


The Champion Vai

by lexycalliope



Series: The Champion Vai [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Anxiety, Cultural Differences, Depression, Drama, Dysphoria, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Gender Dysphoria, M/M, Other, Romance, Self-Discovery, Slow Burn, This was supposed to just be a sidlink fic and it is but also theres a LOT of buildup, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trans Link (Legend of Zelda), Transgender, Transitioning, itll get really lovey dovey, like a lot of dysphoria, really slow burn, sidlink - Freeform, theres fluffy stuff mixed in with plot stuff actually happening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2020-07-23 23:48:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 44
Words: 273,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20016787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexycalliope/pseuds/lexycalliope
Summary: Having lived a suffocating life being the Princesses bodyguard, and the captain of the Hylian Royal guard, Link reawakens one hundred years after the Calamity to a much less claustrophobic life, giving him the opportunity to learn about himself that he never really had.This is less of a retelling, more of a completely different take on the entirety of botw, while loosely following plot stuff. It is lore friendly, nothing super ooc happens either.How will a closet trans girl amnesiac react to being told she's the hero of legend?(Probably by having a panic attack)





	1. Link's Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This deals with some real tough gender dysphoria stuff, so if that's something you don't feel like you can read or just don't want to, ya don't gotta! Also if you wanna give me feedback and stuff, my tumblr is wontonbutterball, or you can just message me here I guess? 
> 
> Also sidlink absolutely happens and it'll be worth it. It'll just take a while. This is a long one, folks.

His memories were so blurry from how fast they had flown him by. He woke up, half submerged and aching in a lukewarm bed of water in a room that echoed every movement he made off of its cold, stone walls. He met an old, seemingly ethereal man whose eyes showed him more sorrow than his slow and ragged words could carry. He remembered the old man's eyes, heavy as they seemed, shy from his gaze as he woefully informed him of a burden he is destined to carry. 

  
  
  


His name is Link, he was a member of the Royal guard. He was the highest rank of royal knight. He was a steadfast and furious warrior who fell in battle to protect an _entire kingdom. There’s no way that’s right,_ he thought to himself _._ The old man stood firm for the warrior to let sink in the truths he had practically whimpered for him. Laugh lines and crow's feet wrinkling the old man's face seemed to tell stories of happier times.

“There are but a few more things I must tell you.” he billowed in a somber, seemingly mournful tone. “Do you see that monstrosity over there?”, the old man snarled in contempt, “The black and red cloud of blight circling the great tower you see before you? The precious shell that beast is trapped inside”-- he enunciated his point with a firm tap to his own chest -- “was my kingdom.” choking back his sorrow as well as he could. “The heart of this beautiful land, tainted by prophecy unwoven at the wrong time.” 

In that moment, the old King could not bear to make eye contact to the last living vestige of his army, regardless of Link’s lack of remembrance.

“You are this kingdoms last hope.” He seemed to force those words out of his mouth like a dry cough. “For 100 years, this land has been all but shackled to this curse- Ganon’s curse. The land will wither, and its people will fall further into his clutches. Where the Divine Beasts and its champions, and my kingdom has failed, it is with great shame that will weigh my soul for the rest of time that I must bestow the destruction of Ganon to you, lest the future of this world fall to ash.”

Link’s breath hitched, his mouth felt dry, a wobbly feeling sparking through his legs, leaving his hands trembling, and his balance unsteady. It was then, his mind seemed to wander, as if what the man was pouring out to him wasn't being processed at all, but put somewhere else in the back of his mind. 

His cloudy thoughts were brought sudden clarity by the old king’s throat clearing. 

“I am so sorry for this,” he knelt to meet his eyes with Link “I hope as I sever my ties with this realm and move to the next, you can find it in your heart to one day forgive me. Please, save my kingdom. Save Hyrule.” Blue light sparked around the old King’s figure, his eyes failing to meet Link’s any longer as he could not find the courage within him. The burden of being messenger to the hero of legend was complete, and the King’s form seemed to rotate in on itself, and before Link’s eyes, he was whisked above him in an ethereal flash, until nothing remained. 

Link felt hot pokers of anxiety brand his own body all over in the coming moments. His legs gave out suddenly, his knees knocking hard against the dusty wooden floors of the dilapidated Temple of Time. His eyes, red and dry from years of sleep, brought forth gratuitous tears of confusion and panic. He was alone. He remembers nothing, has been given a few supplies and a grievous rundown of an explanation of his life he cannot remember, and he has been left **alone**. 

Against the hollow, rotting wood of the holy place, Link sobbed. Pools of tears mixed in with the dust and dirt of the ground at which he laid. His breathing was shallow, and his heart pumped violently in his chest. Through this fog of confusion, he felt the wind pick up through the broken-in ceiling of the rotting church, and his breathing began to slow - ever so slightly -at the sensation. He could hear the soft sound of crickets, and he found his focus turning to the sounds of the wilds, using them to soothe himself. If anything, he felt he had learned something about himself. The outside brought him a peaceful feeling, an almost parental, calming sensation.

 _That might be as good of a start as any_ , he thought to himself.

In the silence, his mind wandered to the object he retrieved upon waking up. He couldn't quite remember the name of it. “ _Something slate... Stone slate? Shakey slate?”_ He mused for several more seconds, almost making himself laugh with the names he was coming up with. Still laying on the dusty floor below him, he pulled it out from his tattered belt. Oddly rough to the touch on one side, the other side was silky smooth. He specifically remembered it lighting up or something. He tapped it a few times on its side. Its light cut through the darkness of the cathedral and caused link to flinch, and his puffy, red eyes to squint at the device for a moment.

What he saw before him was...well...unimaginably confusing at first. He spent roughly 30 minutes to an hour to figure its basic functionality. Rubbing his finger to the left took him to a screen regarding the weather around him, and rubbing his finger to the right took him to a map. 

The map was so **large**. His eyes scanned the entirety of the land he was around, and found a small green arrow supposedly representing him. Near him was a yellow dot, a point of interest perhaps? Sniffling and trying to keep distracting himself from his previous breakdown, he rubbed his finger against the screen again, and it took him to another screen, this 

one with a bar with a small string of text on it. “After you awaken” is what it read, and he curiously pressed his finger on it. 

_This will be written in haste, as the partner of mine and I are currently rushing you to be put inside stasis. My name is not important, I am of the Shiekah, and I have been appointed by princess Zelda in the name of the royal guard to offer you a few nuggets of information in the time it takes us to put you inside the chamber. First off, go to Kakariko. The Shiekah will be waiting there for you in 100 years time of my writing this. Second of all, grab a weapon, there is a chest behind the pew in the temple of time I will have left for you. I do not have much more time, but may your footfalls be as silent as the air you breathe, and may your_ _altercations end swiftly and without injury._

Links heart fell low in his chest, and he felt the air around him grow hot and prickly once more. He dragged himself to his feet, still wobbly from before, and made his way over to the pew. The chest lay there, rotted and dusty as the rest of the place. He could even see the near-rusty gleam of a sword from the outside of it. He couldn't help but feel as though his heart told him not to take it, but from how things are now, it sounded like he didn't have a choice.

One-hundred years does a lot to degrade things; the sword he held unsteadily in his shaking hand certainly was no exception to this rule, its tattered handle falling apart at its seams, and its blade chipped from rust. A pang of familiarity ran through him as he moved it from side to side, getting used to its weight. A sheathe laid next to a near-broken shield, to which he collected and strapped to his person the best he could. 

The whiplash from being thrust into saving the world still had his head spinning. The responsibility weighed heavy on the Hylian's shoulders, so heavy, in fact, that he kept himself as preoccupied as he could from losing himself in panic like he did that night at the temple of time, specifically in a small stable nearest Kakariko village.

The Hylian had been walking for the entirety of the night, the morning sun painting the sky with lighter hues of blue and orange, and the dew settling amongst the long grass native to hyrule field. Link found several men near a horse drawn carriage trying to lift a barrel onto the back, straining themselves beyond their limits. Link rushed over before they dropped it, and the men laughed in embarrassment for not asking someone earlier. They nodded their heads towards a large group of barrels, and Link happily obliged in helping them further.  
  


A portly trader gave him a smile that could warm up a room and thanked him. He heard a voice call from the front of the stable. “Hey, boy!” He sauntered over to the front desk and was greeted by a beaming man, the owner of Dueling peak stables.

“Im Tassaren, I really appreciate you helping out, it usually takes them the whole day to fill that cart!”. Link smiled, “You’re welco-” Link’s breath cut short, as he noticed something off about his own voice. His face reddened. 

Tassaren looked at him with confusion, to which he took the silence to pipe up.

“Hey, you don't gotta say anything, friend. We’re just happy to have you here. Feel free to rest for the night in one of our bunks, no charge. And if you see a fella with a cut-off shirt and a beetle on his back? He's a good trader, he loves sticking around. I can tell you’re not from around here, so we’re more than happy to help.” Link found his kindness to be extremely refreshing, he smiled softly at the man, nodded, and gave a small hum of affirmation to his newfound acquaintances’ kindness.

Link moved tiredly over to the bottom bunk bed in what looked to be the boarding rooms of the stables. He’d been walking all day, and physical and emotional stress can work together to make a very, very exhausted boy. He plopped on the bottom bunk, removing his tattered sword and shield haphazardly and setting them to his left on the floor. His mind was left to race, as his legs were now resting.

_Why had my voice done that? Has it always been...like gravel?_

He rested his hand on his chest, letting out a hum and cringing at how rough it sounds. It’s definitely not a feeling he could put into words, but he did not like it. It's almost as if how he looks did not match up with how he sounds. When he had met the old King, he knew how he would sound before the man opened his mouth. Low, and booming; a commanding voice to fill large rooms of audiences, captivated by his authority. He pondered the thought longer, his eyes drooping low, near sleep.

_It’s probably from being in stasis so long. Maybe if I give it time, It will become normal again. For now, I don't want to be heard like this..._

Link awoke to thunderous laughter. A group of leather armor-clad Hylians were reminiscing about the day’s events, drinking and murmuring of gossip from towns near and far. A man with a comically large beetle shaped backpack caught his eye, sitting cross legged on the floorboards writing furiously in a notepad. Link furrowed an eyebrow and expected his backpack further. _Oh! This was the trader Tassaren was talking about!_ Link’s shifting caught the traders attention. He was, indeed, wearing a crop-top.

“Well HI there! I don’t believe we’ve met! I’m Beedle!” Beedle was loud, and Beedle was cheery, as if he was seeing a friend he hadn't caught up with in ages. 

Link liked Beedles personality immediately. He gave the man the biggest smile he’d given anyone since his awakening, and kicked himself out of bed to approach him. The thin man reached a hand out and shook Link's hand with a surprising grip.

“So, what brings you here? Business? Meeting family?” His questions overwhelmed him, but he found himself laughing nervously at them nonetheless. Link pointed to his neck, moving his lips to mouth the words “Can't talk”. Beedle seemed to catch on immediately. “Oh! Well that's fine by me! Is there anything I can do for you? I have a whooole lot of stuff to sell today, i just got back from collecting them myself!”

Beedle lifted down a wooden table from his bag and sorted what he had in stock, but the only thing that caught links eye was the most red and ripe apple hes ever seen in his life. Well. from what he can remember of his life, anyway. He pointed and offered 5 rupees, to which Beedle gladly accepted.

“Thank you!” Beedle near screamed at Link, catching him off guard. Link unapologetically took a huge bite of the apple, and reached for his sheikah slate bending down to meet Beedle and pointed at the orange dot on his map that he saw earlier. “Ohhhh...uhh...oh! That's Kakariko village! Is that what you wanted to know?” Link nodded his head quickly, shaking the apple up and down and trying not to smile too hard and drop it. Link gestured at Beedle’s notepad, and then back to himself, and made a writing motion. “Oh! Of course!” Link scribbled in very small letters “I’m Link” and handed it back to the bewildered man. 

Link turned away and grabbed his things, taking another gigantic, ravenous bite of his apple before turning around to wave goodbye. “Well goodbye Link! I hope we run into each other again some time, it was truly a pleasure meeting you!!” Link smiled back and walked out of the stable and into the warm, evening air. 

As it seemed, swordplay was second nature to the Hylian. Camps of monsters and wild animals alike littered hyrule, and when it came to using a sword, he was a natural. This knowledge was somewhat bittersweet to him. It didn't sit right in the back of his throat.

 _"You are my kingdom’s last hope"_ the King's words echoed in his mind and made his thoughts crash and scramble together like ocean waves. 

His proficiency with a weapon is something he fears, not because of the violence, but because it fills a sort of prophetic notion that he is the one to be the light in the darkness, he and himself alone?

 _Not even an entire kingdom and its allies could defeat this thing, but they just plop me on its doorstep_? He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts; as his hands began to tremble at the immense burden that has been rested upon him. 

It wasn't very long until the arches that signified the entrance of the village lay before him. _A horse would be nice,_ he thought, as the road to the village became a rather steep one, and his legs began to burn at the incline. The sound of rushing river water and the smell of smoke from lit torches filled the air, and Link was greeted by green dots of sunset fireflies peppering the lush trees amongst the palette of red buildings, sitting quaintly along the winding dirt road along the beautifully huddled Kakariko village. 

Following the road, it was very apparent that most of the residents were in bed. Their box shaped homes had no lights from their windows. Link’s sleeping schedule was less than ideal, it seemed, but he could swear he could smell food cooking nearby. A savory smell, it was; buttery and smoky, with a strange acidic bite accompanying it. Sure enough, a small figure was perched on a stump of a tree, huddled over a large wok, right near the middle of the town.

The fire lit her expression. A semi-awake, white haired child, dotted with freckles and wire-framed glasses that reflected the popping, sizzling iron wok in its lenses. She snorted loudly, noticing Links quiet approach. “HUH- oh!, oh please tell me you’re not here to rob me.” 

Link shied back a few steps and lifted his hands in an attempt to show he means the girl no harm. “Hm, I've never seen you around before” the girl took a quizzical glance from side to side to lean in over the sizzling iron pan to whisper “Please for the love of Hylia dont tell my dad i'm out here this late, i'm just...late night snacking is all. Why are you up this late, mister?” The girl paused to survey Link’s stupefied expression before finishing her own thought. “You know what? Come over, sit, I have too much here for me to eat anyway!” 

Link shuffled over and graciously sat on the opposite tree trunk from the wok itself and peered over its rim. A hearty heap of bright, orange carrots sat sizzling as he watched the girl slice a chunk of butter into the smouldering pan. “These carrots are native to Kakariko! I mean, we have pumpkins too, but caramelized carrots are my favorite. They’re my comfort food.” She shifted the pan’s contents with a whittled stick, allowing a large billow of steam to lift from the pan, bringing with it the most lovely smell Link has had the pleasure of being faced with.

“Hey! Mister! You okay there?” Link knocked out of his trance and looked up to the half asleep girl pouting confusedly at the silent boy before her. “I’m Hana! I live here with my dad and my little sister!” _Huh, she’s very friendly. This village probably doesn't get much in the way of newcomers,_ link thought to himself. “We don't get newcomers, like **ever.** Just traders, or food shipments from Hateno village. I’m sure the rest of the village will be happy to see you here, if you plan to stay!” Link waved his hand and made an expression of gratitude at the girls’ friendliness. She beamed, shifting the carrots to brown just a bit further, before grabbing two small, yet deep, wooden bowls, along with 4 chopsticks. 

“I know it's not important, but, I whittled these bowls myself. Do you even know how hard it is to whittle a bowl?! My dad told me i'm even better than he is, and I'm only 12!” Her words of self-pride practically came out as a half yell, and her giddiness was near-contagious as Link found himself smiling as brightly as she was. After scooping a helping of carrots and handing them to link, she offered him two chopsticks. Not a splinter on them; the bowl and the sticks coated with a near perfect shiny finish set atop the deep, dark wood they were brushed upon. 

_By the goddesses, these are amazing._ Link’s expression lit up upon the first bite, and he looked directly to Hana with a serious expression of amazement. A nutty, sweet, yet somewhat salty bite, with _just_ enough give to not be mushy. “Oh yeah, you like them!? Hah! I knew I was getting good at cooking! I'll be just as good as mom one day!” Link looked down at the bowl in front of him, and back to her, and back to the bowl, and back to her again. After a few seconds of eye contact, she responded to what she _thought_ he had in mind.

“Ah! Yeah, yeah! This was one part butter to four parts swift carrots. Just let them simmer for a while and toss them every now and then.” Link blinked and smiled with a mouthful of carrots. 

She set hers aside and pulled from a satchel small wooden cylinder, or so it seemed from the distance he was, and handed it to Link. “Here, I've made a lot of these. I used to say these were for practice but...now i've gotten good enough to where I can call them good luck charms!” A cheesy grin flashed from Hana, as he took the small totem in his hand. 

The totem was surrounded with intricate, symmetrical, but occasionally sloppy grooves on it. The middle was set with a peaceful, yet stern looking face, its eyes rested shut and its mouth in a calm expression. “I just finished that one actually, I hope you like it!” Link’s eyes sparkled, nearly tearing up from the girls kindness. He smiled at looked up at her, and she nodded, which he took as a silent 'y _ou’re welcome '_. Link tied the gift to the outside of his ragged bag, deciding to keep it near to him at all times. Of all the things he’s received so far, this one symbolizes a kindness that is without condition, as if the people of this land are so few and far between with good people housing themselves in groups along dangerous roads and small villages that rarely see visitors, that it is up to all of them to show that being good to each other is a virtue they cannot afford to take for granted. 

The girl looked over at the house nearby, “Oh shoot! I gotta be home, like now probably. It was nice to meet you, friend! I hope i see you tomorrow, perhaps you could meet my father!” She swiped the bowls and chopsticks, and Link waved her off and sat next to the still smouldering fire, enjoying the feeling of kindness as it still lingered in his heart, feeling almost glad he heaved himself from the whimpering mess he was in at the temple of time. A few things irked the back of his mind, though. 

He couldn't keep going without being able to express himself through his voice. He’s found himself wanting to show gratitude to the people who have shown him kindness, and he’s wanted to question the ones that have given him shortness, and yet, as if in his nature, he found his voice shackled. He rested his head in his hands, taking in the warmth of the dying embers that danced beneath the cooking pot. His eyes grew heavy with sleep as he mused; _Have I always been this way?_

“By Lakna, is that the slate of the Shiekah?” Links’ lamenting was cut short by a fast approaching man, half hunched and covered in a white robe lined with red adornments, observing the Hylian as if he were sizing up someone who had just wronged him. “You...you must be Link, yes? The champion put into stasis?!” Link gave a reluctant nod, slightly drowsy as the morning light peaked in from the east. “Hah! Haha!” the man chuckled and laughed giddily as if he had just come to divine revelation. “This is very sudden I'm aware, but you must follow me. As was instructed, you must visit the elder of this village.” The man’s strength was surprising for his old stature and he pulled link along with him, the Hylian following deftly behind him up a large flight of stairs as if his life depended on it. 

The man slid open a rather fragile door, slightly rickety with age yet it held its form under his excited force. “Lady Impa! The hero has awakened!” A small, old, doll-like woman sat upon a pillow raised her head, holding a steaming cup of tea and greeted him with a slow, but loving smile.

“Why...if i didn't know any better, that resurrection chamber made you younger!” She let out a weak laugh, and looked the boy up and down.

Link felt tense, he felt as if he was told a joke that everyone understood but him, but he gave a half-hearted smile all the same.

“Let us get formalities out of the way, shall we?” She took a gentle breath and sipped her tea. “I’m well aware you’ve met King Rhoam, and i'm sure you understand why you’re here. I will not emphasize the urgency of Ganon's demise anymore than he has most likely placed upon you.”

Links shoulders seemed to relax at that moment, and the old woman inhaled deeply, as if she hasn't talked to anyone at this length in ages.

“However, I will tell you _where_ you can find the beasts of which he spoke of, the Divine Beasts. Hand me your Shiekah slate, dearest.” Link gently placed the heavy rectangular stone in to her small palm, and to his surprise, she maneuvered it’s functions deftly. “These are the places at which the guardians wander. They are monoliths, these beasts.” As she pointed to the 4 yellow dots she marked on Link’s map, her eyes seemed to light up a bit more, showing her youth when explaining the beasts themselves. “Ancient Shiekah technology, and as I and the tribe here believe, they have their own personalities; souls, per se.” She paused and grimly looked to the Hylian, “They are all plagued by a sickness. A sort of flu set upon them by Ganon’s own design, and with the help of the towns you seek on this map, they will assist you to cure them once again so that their ire be set upon calamity Ganon himself.” As if knowing his reaction to those words simply by remembering who he once was, she motioned for Link to look up at her.

“No one will make you do this alone, no matter what you’ve been told.” Link was taken aback at this, yet as he's seen in the past few days, the camaraderie and spirit of the people around him seems to resonate with him in a way he's beginning to understand. “Set your mind at ease, we are all here to help you in your efforts whichever way we can.”

Impa let out a weak cough, and continued on; “It seems you’re as timid as ever, do you remember much from before your slumber?” Link looked to the ground, shifting uncomfortably as if he suddenly felt unwelcome.

“Ah, I see. Before your slumber, you never did talk very much. But you still carry yourself like a champion, it's strange to see how these things carry over. As terribly unfortunate as this is, it's not impossible to retrieve the lost memories themselves, but, regardless of if you’ve lost them, you have a lifetime ahead of you to find yourself, dearest.” _So i've always been this quiet? The person I was could stand for this life of one sided conversation?_ Link mused, and the old woman’s words sobered him in a way that left his chest feeling hollow.

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, care for a cup of tea?” Link nodded. “Paya, dear, could you fetch another cup of black tea? A very special guest is here to visit.” she croaked and gave the hylian a wink.

From the floor above, a young woman's voice barely muffled by the thin walls, responded with a short and to the point “Yes, grandmother!” Impa took a pause to sip her tea, and spoke in hushed tones; “Paya is my granddaughter, and she gets nervous around guests, so be sure to be patient with her.” 

Carefully stepping down the stairs, a Sheikah girl near the age of Link descended. She had her large silver hair tied and held in place with two rods in a neat bun, and she moved carefully. Her soft facial features pouting in an intense expression of concentration as to not drop the piping hot tea; the clinking of the ceramic cup against the plate she held only grew more shaky as she approached the Hylian.

“F-f-for you!” she stuttered and deeply blushed at the guest. Link smiled up at her and reached for the tea, setting it on his lap and giving a small nod of appreciation. She stood straight as a board, facing Impa as if waiting to be dismissed.

“Thank you, dear. You may leave if you wish.” 

She took that opportunity to immediately bolt up the stairs, not really seeming to care too much at how jarring the difference between her entrance and exit were.

 _That...was a very adorable person._ Link pondered her introversion, wondering what she’s like when she's not too nervous. _Is she excitable? Is she bossy? Is she expressive? Maybe nervousness_ **_is_ ** _her personality..._ Link felt for her, enjoying the strong odor of the tea that sat in his lap, as he zoned out more. Maybe this was truly her and her personality, but clinging to the idea that there could be someone else in the world struggling to show their true colors, Link breathed a sigh of relief. 

Link sat cross legged with the old woman, as she spoke of the temples that littered the lands, the slate and its functionality, and he sipped on a dark, black tea that smelled of harsh fruit rinds and bitter leaves. _He loved it._ “I guess tastes don't change, do they? That used to be your favorite.” she heartily exclaimed to the Hylian. Link felt it was time to go, as he had been there imposing for far too long. He sprang up, gave a gentle, thankful smile to the elder, and took his leave, feeling content in the fact he felt like he was starting to make friends. 

As he stepped out into the fresh, cool morning air, he noticed a few things. He was no longer tired. Whatever was in that tea must’ve woken him up. _No wonder it was my favorite tea._ He also noticed Hana, sitting next to the wok again, intensely and slowly whittling something in her hand. He plopped down on the stump next to her, scaring the girl half to death.

“AAh, you almost made me cut myself you jer-!” She looked up at the person who rudely interrupted her focus and noticed the stranger from last night. “O- oh! Hello again!” Link looked apologetically at the girl, and in her response she shrugged it off. “Nah it's okay! that wouldn't have been the first cut I've ever gotten, see!?”, she shoved her hand out, showing off a litany of bandages that covered her fingers.

“Hurting is learning, stranger! At least, that’s what my dad told me.” The advice bounced around Link’s head, not fully comprehending it, but, he was impressed with her wisdom nonetheless. He pointed to what she was working on, a small dove, rough with points at the edges and pencil marks noting intricate designs yet to be carved into the bird.

“This is a gift for my mother. Well, her shrine anyway.” Link looked at her with an expression of apology, to which she dismissed; “It’s okay. I was three when she died, so I don't remember her much at all, but I still want to make her spirit proud of me, so im making her this dove.” Hana stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and carefully carved a chunk out of the beak, before grabbing a piece of rough paper and rubbing it against the beak itself. 

Link diligently watched the girl whittle, until he heard footsteps approaching from behind.

“So, you’re the stranger, huh?” A large man stood behind him, sleek white hair tied in a bun with large, intimidating eyebrows accentuating his already menacing bear-like figure, contrasted by the huge smile he was beaming at Link. “Hana wouldn't stop talking about you this morning, and, judging by the glowing brick on your hip, you’re not just any person!” Hana looked curiously to the towering man.

“What do you mean, dad?”

“Hey, you should have learned this in school! This is the boy of legend! The champion of Hyrule!” The man’s hearty chuckles were wobbly in Link’s ears, as the man was playfully shaking Link by his shoulders to make his point. Hana’s eyes widened and she practically fell back in her seat and looked at the small Hylian with astonishment.

“SERIOUSLY?? YOU’RE THE CHAMPION???” 

Link felt a hot rush of embarrassment, and an underlying sense of disappointment. He felt like he preferred being known as the person last night, a stranger with no name and a chance to change how he is seen; perhaps to be less boxed in to one personality. He waved his arms and blushed a deep crimson at her expectant face. “OH HYLIA I MADE FRIENDS WITH A ZOMBIE BOY THAT'S **SO** CRAZY!” Her voice cracked, and Link bowed his head in defeat, his stifled laughter breaking slightly and making him snort.

“I know where you’re headed, Link” the large, Sheikah man stated. “The divine beasts themselves! Let me give you a little advice, shorty.” The man knelt down to Link’s level, and placed his large hand on his shoulder. “To the north is Lanyru, a beautiful province, but it's dangerous right now with the Lizalfos crowding around the Zora domain.” Link nodded at his words. “What you may want to do is take the safest route to the least intense area I can recommend, we run crops that way, and it's fairly safe, as long as you don't mind a bit of heat.” The man cleared his throat and continued.

“Take the road through Hyrule field and go to gerudo town, it's a semi-safe area with little life but its people are friendly. It’s a good place to get weaponry, as well. Something better than that….thing you’re carrying on your shoulder there!” 

The man erupted in billowing laughter, if but for a moment, and his face stiffened once more.

“From there, it's up to you. That's the best advice I can give ya, little guy. Oh! I’m Renno by the way. We’re happy to have you as long as you like in this village.” He paused, Link took the opportunity to nod and smile softly. “Well, I should be off, unfortunately, houses cant fix themselves! Byeeee Hana!”

“Yeah, yeah! Byeeee dad!” she squeaked. His thunderous laughter erupted once more, and he meandered away from the small Hylian. 

Link turned around to face a now starry eyed Hana, looking at him like she expected him to do a flip and kill a stray Bokoblin mid-air.

“So….the legendary hero!! And I thought I was cool!” A red flush washed over the pale hylians face once more, and he shook his head as if to say he wasn't that special. “Don't be so bashful! You’re so brave!” She scrambled up to her feet and gave him a determined stance “I've read all the retellings of your adventures, as well as your doings in the royal family! The Shiekah people and the Hylian people alike have to learn about you! I mean, it’s mandatory, but it’s my favorite part of history class! Getting to be famous?? Getting to look after the PRINCESS??” She desperately wanted to raise Link’s spirits, but it seemed his ever dropping smile was telling of her failings.

_They_ **_read_ ** _about me? They know of a retelling of my life? What does that even mean? What does that say of who I actually am? Who do these people think I am?_ Link’s breath hitched, the hot pinpricks of anxiety crept back up the Hylians arms and legs, and he felt himself wanting any way out of this situation.

“Hey, I-” Before she could finish her sentence, Link got up and began running. His body ran as if he were on autopilot, a blur of his life that he could only sit and watch. He looked behind the ever-shrinking Kakariko village, but the only thing he could really register was Hana, shoulders slumped. He ran for what felt like hours, passing the dueling peak stables, sun setting and rain pouring around his shaking frame as he found an unsteady, makeshift shelter in a mostly topped over cobblestone house in the outpost ruins to lay his body down. _What’s wrong with me?_ Link slammed his fist on the hard, cold stone half crumbled beneath him and opened his mouth in a wail, his voice clashing against the surrounding rain and thunder. Everything the King forebode rushed back to him, and a dry, blunt pang of guilt stabbed his stomach.

“ _You’ve a lifetime to find yourself, dearest_ ”, Impa’s words resonated through Link. She was a very wise woman, and seemed to know Link in ways he didn't know himself. Link’s instinct was gnawing at him, taunting him with questions he couldn't answer, a tensity to every interaction with every person he meets that makes him want to cower away. It's so _exhausting._ The rain poured heavily against the broken-in side of the cobblestone home he found himself in. He watched the droplets bounce against the decaying grey and black rock. _I hope that Hana can forgive me_. Link sat up against the wall of the small building, rain beating hard against the growing puddles of water outside. Picture frames with torn and muddy paintings adorned the walls, broken, cracked wood and loose dirt strewn haphazardly across the floor of the once lived in home.

Link caught his breath for the most part, and pulled out his bag and saw the little, dark wooden totem dangling off tied around a knot in the fabric. Tears threatened Link again, this symbol of good will had become bitter like bile in the back of his throat. He set the bag down and felt a heaviness in it he didn't remember. Undoing the tie of the pack, he was surprised to pull out a set of chopsticks, along with a small, deep bowl, accompanied by a full paper bag. Tucked neatly in the bag were 3 large carrots and a large pat of butter. 

_When did she have time to do this?_ Link’s eyes sparkled, and his tears fell to further soak his already messy tunic. Link looked to the floor, his eyes drooped in mental and physical stress. The small Hylian moved to set the gifts back in the bag, and slumped down to the dirty floor, clutching the knapsack tightly for comfort. He shook as his thoughts had become too cumbersome for him to bear, until he finally uncomfortably fell asleep of exhaustion.

The morning light and cool breeze had almost brought a calm, soothing awakening to Link, if it weren't for the chaotic thoughts of the previous night that collided with him, rubbing up against his thoughts like steel wool. He huffed them out of his mind the best he could, noting how hungry he was; _maybe a good distraction would help me feel better._ He looked to the fireplace nearby, a recently used and worn wok with its bottom covered in ash lay there. After about 30 minutes of rubbing two sticks together, he had finally gotten smoke to build in the tinder he had set, blowing on it and moving it to the bundles of wood below the dirty metal pan.

He shook out the wok and threw the two ingredients in and waited, enjoying the warmth of the fire he created, and the loving embrace from the sweet, nutty, near-acidic natural aroma that wafted from the pan. _I hope I can cook these as well as Hana._ He sighed, thinking of Impa and Hana, Beedle, everyone who had shown him kindness. He liked seeing them happy, but the look on Hana's face as Link ran away last night had disappointment that was visible miles away. _I'm gonna make it up to her. The next time I walk inside that village, I’ll be normal._ He clutched the chopsticks in near ecstasy as he took his first bite of carrot. _No, yeah, I didn't do too bad,_ he thought to himself. Being able to make this dish was to Link like being able to capture a memory. A comfortable one. 

If only he had anyone to share it with.


	2. You're gonna sweat yourself to death, kid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link finds out why he feels so dang depressed all the time. Also he finds out why he never talks!

He packed up his things and began for the gerudo desert, which as Renno told him, was the safest route in all of Hyrule. _Huh_ , _maybe these people won’t know me. Maybe I can just be a charitable stranger who wants to tame a raging, ancient monolith. The legendary wrangler of Hyrule._ Link giggled to himself, watching birds fly from tree to tree, shaking the rainwater from last night's storm free from the leaves.

The Hylian found peace in the morning; as if a twinge of optimism and curiosity was what drove him from the break of dawn. As much as he didn't believe he was meant to be alone all of the time, the chance to walk across Hyrule to parts unknown and reflect and let his thoughts sort themselves served him well. 

A gust of warm air blew past the Hylian as he fought his way through the few Bokoblin sentries that patrolled Diggdogg bridge. The great canyon that loomed on either side above him covered the sun and let his eyes adjust to a dimmer, less harsh light. The walk was fairly simple, and the land eroded flat to the sands of time ahead of him. He soon reached another stable, similar to the one he saw at dueling peaks. “Oi!” The Hylian stable worker called for Link’s attention, “Hello, traveler!” He smiled at Link. “I’ve never seen you here so i'll take the opportunity to tell you now, don't go out in the desert this late at night, its _fuh-reezing_.”

Link nodded. “A stay here is 15 rupees if you want to use a bunk bed.” Link handed the man the money, and made his way over to the bed to sleep once more. Plopping on the bed, and pulling the coarse, heavy blanket that lay on the lumpy mattress over around him, he found himself eavesdropping on a couple of travelers nearby. Link’s ears perked to the two sat at a table illuminated by candlelight. One, a thinner man with bags and backpacks seeming to cover his entire person; and the other, a woman with blonde hair in a bun, sun kissed shoulders and cheeks, occasionally flashing a very illuminating, dimple accentuated smile at the man in front of her.

 _She’s stunning,_ he thought, a swirling mix of emotions he very much was not used to coarsed through him. Her looks, her body language, the way she spoke with her hands, it wasn't so much attractive to Link as she was admirable. Admirable? Was that the emotion he was feeling? If this feeling was admiration, then why did it leave him feeling so...sad? He felt the tips of his ears blush with frustration trying to find this emotion. He watched as she bent over the table to kiss the man on his nose, and he laughed and kissed her back. Link’s heart dropped in his chest, and he felt himself having to flip over to avoid looking at the two. 

_That was so cute, why did I hate that? Why did I hate a cute thing? Am I jealous of those two?_ He pouted, upset with this bubbling emotion that he hadn't had since waking up in the resurrection chamber. The small Hylian found himself near tears, and he didn't know why. _Is it because they're_ happy? _Is it because im lonely? Is it something else altogether?_ He gripped his pillow and held it as close to himself as possible, thinking he had time later to sort through his own emotions, and he found himself very quickly moving himself towards sleep.

After a night of dreamless sleep, Link detached himself from his now drool-covered pillow and sorted his things. Today was the day he moved for Gerudo town. Slinging his bag around him, he walked out into the desert sun for his new destination. 

_Alright I should have prepared more,_ Link thought, sweat covering his forehead as he walked the sand dusted trail. He hastily tied his tunic over his middle around his undershirt, feeling slightly better, but not by much. He stared down at his Shiekah slate and noticed an oasis on the road on the way. _Well, I don't really have a choice, do I?_ he mused, nearly dehydrating in the oppressive weather. The small Hylian found the oasis to be bustling with vendors, chatting friends, visitors passing through, all huddled around the crystal blue waters of the pond that acted as the bazaar center. 

Ducking his head down to avoid too much eye contact, he walked into the nearby inn to escape the sun for a small while. The Kara Kara Bazaar Inn wasn't packed, but had a few sets of patrons in the bar area chatting amongst themselves. The barkeep, a large, middle aged hylian woman perked up, furrowed her brow and ushered Link over.

"Hon you are dressed _too_ warmly for this weather. You're gonna die of heat stroke out here in that." She looked at him angrily, Link looked down at his tunic and undershirt, noticing a bead of sweat drip off his nose and on the floor. "You poor thing, this your first time in the Gerudo desert?" Link looked to his left and right before hesitantly nodding. "And...you're not planning on going to Gerudo town are you?" She asked authoritatively.

Link slowly and timidly nodded again, looking as if he was being scolded. "Ah, yeah, well the Gerudo people are very strict in their traditions" she rolled her eyes dismissively at her own sentence. "No men- well, no _voe_ are allowed inside." Link looked puzzled at the tail end of the woman's sentence, ignoring her shortness. "Voe? The gerudo term for boy? You really aren't from here are you?" Link shrugged, motioning at a cup she was cleaning at the time. "Yeah, ill get you water, you look parched, kid." 

Three glasses of water and a few minutes later, the barkeep piped up, never looking down from the spot she was trying to get out of the countertop.

"There's a trader of sorts, up above us on the roof of this building. You don't look like you'd get into any trouble, and If you really want to get into Gerudo town, they can help you." Link looked hesitant, as if he was getting into something he shouldn't. "No jokes, you've got the face for it." Link had no idea what she was talking about, and continued to stare at the increasingly annoyed woman. 

"Their name is Vilia, now go." Link took that as a _leave my store_ kind of ending to the conversation, and walked out of the sturdy wooden door out into the desert once again.

Link circled the building for a way to the roof, and was met with a white, near-makeshift wooden ladder. The small Hylian hoisted himself up carefully, and over to the top of the inn. A Gerudo woman sat, overlooking the desert from the vantage point. Link didn't really blame them, the dunes bobbed and weaved on the horizon and swirls of golden sand blew through the currents in the air. Not to mention the sandstorm creating, tantrum throwing Divine Beast that loomed in the horizon. While horrifying, it was a sight to behold.

They were very...well...short for a Gerudo woman. The Gerudo women Link has seen in the bazaar have been exceptionally tall compared to them, looming over at about 7 feet. Vilia was a little taller than himself, probably 6 feet. Link approached them with his Shiekah slate in hand, and hoped his footsteps would get their attention.

"Hm? Well, who have we here?" They spoke in a low registered, velvety tone, one that carried flirtatious allure and calculated politeness. They wore a pink and purple Gerudo woman set, along with a veil over their face, made of the same fabric as their top. Link waved nervously, trying to avoid too much eye contact, and moved over to show them Gerudo town on his map. "Well a hello would be nice- oh." They noticed the map marker. "Rose sent you didn't she? Hoho!" They giggled and playfully put their hands on their hips, studying Link a bit longer than he felt comfortable. "Im Vilia, by the by. A pleasure to meet you, darling~" Link blushed at their compliment, as, he's never really thought too much of his own appearance. 

Nonetheless, a strange feeling washed over the Hylian as he felt the need to cover his face at their flattery.

"You'd make such a stunning vai, doll."

 _Vai? Is that the...wait what?_ Link thought to himself.

"I believe I have your size, one moment darling!~" Vilia gave the small Hylian a wink, and descended the ladder to fetch...whatever they were going to fetch. Link noticed a lump in his throat, his heart began racing at the ever growing confusion of the situation. He soon after heard them climbing the ladder, hopping up and approaching him, swishing their hips as they walked, clutching a white paper bag. "Here you are~" they cooed. "Go put that on in the inns restroom, unless you really feel bold; with a beautiful body like yours, it makes no difference to me, hoho!~" Link was at the point now where he felt so intensely out of the loop that he was just going with the punches. Frustrated with his lack of being able to communicate, he climbed down the ladder and entered the inn once more.

The innkeep was nowhere to be seen, and the bar had a few stragglers, drunk as they like and boasting of hunts amongst each other. Link entered the bathroom, not fully knowing what to expect, but adrenaline pumped through his body all the same. He tentatively unwrapped the parchment from the soft gift, flashes of green and blue and brilliant gold hemming sparkled to Links eyes, and he pulled out a Gerudo vai top. Link's world stopped for a moment, and the cogs seemed to click free and began turning furiously in his mind. His face reddened, and his pulse quickened twofold. In an instant, he knew the plan. He was going to disguise himself as a vai to get into Gerudo village.

_He was going to disguise himself as a vai._

_He was going to dress._

_as a girl._

He stared at the garments with amazement, nearly forgetting what they were for. Entrancing golden patterns lining the clothes in swirls, and dots peppering and complimenting the beautiful shades of green and blue. He hasn't felt an excitement like this ever in his life. Fighting Bokoblins, dodging spears and arrows, clashing swords, none of it stood up to this strange feeling. Link slipped his pants and shirt and tunic off, maneuvering the delicate top around his middle and the puffy, beautifully hemmed sirwal that hugged snugly around his legs. He fixed the veil to his face and looked in the bathroom mirror and felt so strangely excited at what he saw in front of him. The top complimented his figure tightly, his shoulders peeked through the top of the garment and showed off his pale, deep collarbone. The intricate face mask adorned with beautiful designs hemmed across it matched his crystal blue eyes that grew watery in the confused euphoria he was feeling at that moment. 

Why was he tearing up like this?

Why does this feel so... _right_?

He stared at himself in the mirror, and in that moment he was reminded of the girl he so admired from the Gerudo desert stables.

Link broke. He slumped down against the wall and wept, his sobs heaving, muffled by his old clothes that sat in his lap. Ironically, all Link wanted in that moment was to feel weird, or wrong, but he couldn't. Link had been plagued by feelings of not fitting in since the moment he woke up, and yet the one thing that brought a glimmer of normalcy was something...so strange like this. He felt sick, choking on sobs and noticing the sting of bile in his throat. 

A soft knocking on the bathroom door just about scared the Hylian half to death, until he heard an oddly reassuring tone from Vilia.

"I can hear you, honey. I want to talk to you. I think it's important. May I please come in?" Link didn't protest, but he hugged his legs to hide himself as best as he could. Link heard a door open and shut, and felt Vilia slump down next to him. "I'm gonna ask you a few questions, okay dear? You don't have to answer, I just want to know so I can help you better." Link just sniffed in snot that was threatening to drip onto his sweaty, old tunic as a response. "Yes or no questions here sweetie. When you put that on, did it make you...feel something?" Link felt a dull emotional pain as he wiped his tears and nodded timidly. "Okay." They said assuredly, in an almost maternal tone. 

"A little something about me, darling; I've helped many voe through gerudo town, for trading, or passing through, and I've not come across one to react to wearing the vai clothes like you have, so bear with me."

They sat and collected their thoughts for a moment, before breaking the silence. “I reacted very similarly to wearing clothes like that many years ago!" Link finally lifted his wet, snotty, messy face and looked at Vilia confusedly. _Vilia used to be...a boy?_ Link thought to himself. "I found myself rarely talking, just like you do. My mother actually thought I was mute. Could you imagine? Me? Hah!” They paused to sigh, and then piped up again. “When I was small, my mother went out to hunt for her and I to eat that evening. She had left this beautiful, long floral sundress on her bed, and I decided in what felt like a strange impulse to try it on. I felt _right_ in that dress _._ I felt like I was on top of the _world_ , sweetheart!” they shook link very softly with one hand to accentuate their feelings, Link could only feign a smile as they looked at Vilia with doe eyes, paying complete attention.

“My mother, however, very much did not approve when she busted through the front door holding a dead rabbit by the leg. She watched me like a hawk for years to come. As much as I would protest, she would push back that much harder. When I turned thirteen, one more argument and she locked the door from the inside and never let me come in that home again, telling me she had no need for dead weight like myself." 

Links ears dropped, and he looked up at them with his puffy red eyes and a grievous expression

"Hey. It's okay. Those wounds have healed, and I feel much more like myself now, darling~" Vilia looked at the sobbing Hylian before them, and felt so much heartache for him. "I know you don't feel like you fit in." They lightly chuckled under their breath, and re-oriented their body to sit cross legged and face the Hylian, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this emptiness you've been feeling must bother you often, yes darling?" Link nodded, following Vilias body language and sitting cross legged and facing them. "I'm sorry you've had to go through this alone, honey. There are people like us. Like you and I."

Vilia placed their hand on Link's knee, and looked him in the eye.

"Do you feel like you've always been a girl, you've just never been able to find the words for it?" Link felt his heart swell, and tears welled up in his eyes again. Saying it out loud made it feel so _real._ He embraced his new friend, feeling free from something he had been bound to for long before he had been in stasis. The Hylian spoke up in a soft, gentle, and sorrowful whisper.

"Yes."

Link had cried for what felt like hours in his friends arms before he moved his head back, and looked to them for more wisdom into what he was feeling.

“Oh honey. There, there” they patted Link’s back and looked at him with an optimistic glow. “Im guessing you really didn't think it was possible for you to feel this way, right? Like it wasn't even an option that people could have, yes?” Link nodded, ears low to the ground. “Well. now you do. Personally, I would say it's the first step in feeling comfortable in your own skin.” They poked the Hylian on the shoulder showing a large grin. The thought of...well...becoming a girl was confusing to Link, but every part of him was screaming for it to come true.

“Okay darling, we mustn't impose ourselves here any longer, people will get...suspicious. hehe!” Link realized what they meant, and his eyes darted open as he nodded in agreement. “Let me take your hand, we can both go to the roof and talk more!” Link was both terrified and excited to walk outside in public in his new outfit, but with Vilia, he felt like they wouldn't ever let him get hurt. They walked out of the bathroom, Link clutching his sweaty tunic under his arm, and he ducked his head down to avoid eye contact with inquisitive strangers.

“Darling, its okay, you’ll be okay.” Link was calmed by Vilia’s voice, and he reluctantly perked his head up to walk with more confidence. His heart continued to beat so quickly, being seen like this was making him feel so vulnerable, yet so much more elated. 

They sat on the roof of the Kara Kara Bazaar Inn as the sun loomer low in the sky, Link sitting cross legged paying diligent attention to Vilia.

“Okay. so you really, _really_ don’t like talking, I know that much.” Link nodded with an embarrassed and apologetic look on his face. “It's..no it’s okay, I'm going to show you a trick, okay? But I may need you to use your voice with me soon enough.” Link looked even more nervous at this point, but he swallowed his fear, knowing he was in good company.

“Darling, I want you to place your hand on your chest, and i want you to hum with me.” Link looked confusedly at them, and placed his hand reluctantly on the space right between his collarbones. “You and I are going to hum in a low register, understood? One, two, three.” They hummed for a few seconds, Link noticing the vibration in his chest as he vocalized, and he cringed. “Yeah, I know, I dont like mine either, ehe” they cooed, and continued with their explanation. “Okay so what you felt there was your natural vibration point. People who are born male tend to have theirs in their chests, and people who are born female tend to have theirs in their throats, which makes it sound higher.” Link was in awe at their knowledge, and you never could have convinced him a week ago that this was going to be happening today. “I want you to try and raise your vibration to your throat with me, just follow along, sugar. 1, 2, 3!” They hummed, and Vilia raised her voice and moved her hand up towards the sky to urge link to lift his voice as well.

Link’s voice rose, crackly at first, but could find a decent pitch and stuck there for a few seconds, amazed at how the vibration went from his chest to his throat. “There you go! Perfect, darling! The rest is up to you, you just have to work off of that throat vibration point, and you'll have your true voice. The one that represents you for who you really are!” _This is the voice I was waiting for, this is why I was so afraid to talk…_ Her eyes welled up with tears and she looked to Vilia.

“T...thank you” Link piped up as best she could.

“Oho!~ Wow you’re getting there quick darling! You really do have a good starting voice. Whenever you’re with me, or when you’re alone, keep working on it. It can only improve with time!” After a few seconds of Link humming, listening to her voice and looking wide eyed, awestruck by how she sounds, Vilia spoke up again. “When I was kicked from my home, I found myself here in Kara Kara.” Link looked up at them, giving them pause until they continued. “The innkeeper, Rose, took me in. I've been here since, she's been gracious enough to help me furnish and live in the attic, and she’d protect me with her life; no matter how bossy she seems, she makes a wonderful mother.” 

Vilia looked to Link, and giggled a bit to themselves.

“Okay here’s the fun part; growing more feminene features. Bosom, chin, softer skin, longer hair.” Link looked dumbfounded at them. “No, really, it’s quite the process” “It does take time though, it's definitely not instantaneous...” Vilia trailed off, not noticing Link looking at them determinedly.

“Hey!” Link whispered at them, and pointed to herself.

“Oh? You really think you want to start?” Link was sure, she hadn't been more sure of anything in her life. If there was a Kingdom holding her back before the calamity, there was nothing of the sort now. Nothing to keep her from being herself. “Oh goddess~ well let's show you how it's done, darling!” They gave a wink to the small Hylian, and stood up above her and offered a hand. “We need to go to my room in the inn.” Link took their hand, and, the elation of being out in the Gerudo outfit still made Link blush like crazy. 

A small flight of stairs compacted near the back of the inn led to a very humid, yet cozy bedroom. It smelled of jasmine, and the walls were covered in wall scrolls, shelves with ceramic figures of animals, various candles, and a few dirty bottles. The sunlight peeking through the window on the far end of the attic shed light on dust particles that danced through the air.

“Okay, dear, here it is!” Vilia carried with them a huge bottle, filled to the top with a thin, yellow liquid. Link paused, observing the huge bottle. “It's pregnant horse urine, and you have to drink one of these every month!~” Vilia paused before cracking up, laughing hard as Link gasped loudly and covered her mouth, looking angry at her beaming friend. “I’m so sorry dear, I couldn't help myself. This _IS_ the urine of a pregnant mare, but you don't need to drink it. I mean, unless that's something you want to do. But we can get the same effect from simply making a nice lotion out of it, oho!~” 

Link look relieved, yet still somewhat nervous at the prospect of rubbing horse pee lotion on herself. Honestly, she’d do anything to feel comfortable, so this is okay.

“I want to give this to you, but I'd like to make it into lotion to save you the trouble of lugging this huge thing around. Care to come with me downstairs? Link followed her friend to the back of the inn, where a gigantic iron bowl lay below the chimney. 

"Okay darling, this is going to be gross so bear with me here!~" they cooed, before pouring the bottle of horse urine and lighting the fire underneath with a nearby flint. They rummaged around in a cabinet and pulled out a few bags, immediately turning out the contents into the pan and turning back to Link, who was quietly listening to the hum of her female register on the other side of the room. Vilia placed their hands on their hips. "Now we wait! I put in copious amounts of coconut oil, beeswax, a generous helping of mint, and now we wait for the two oils to just melt! Then we'll have your first 3 or 4 months of therapy, honey!" Link practically jumped up and down for joy, and hugged her new friend. "Oho! It's really nothing darling, if I can stop someone from suffering through what I did at a young age, I will thousands of times over!" 

There was a short pause. 

"Feel free to not answer, but I never caught your name, darling. The name you wish to go by." Link paused, before clearing her throat and straining a little to vocalize back in a quiet, soft and honky voice.

"Link is fine". Vilia's eyes lit up, surprised by her speaking, and they exclaimed

"Aw Link you are just the cutest!~" 

Vilia stirred the mixture, its contents starting to let off a surprisingly mild smelling steam. "It's doneee!~", they exclaimed in a sing songy tone, fetching a few instruments to collect the contents, and collected 3 jars of the mixture, lovingly sealing each with a cork. "A thin layer of this on your chest every day. I'd say you'll notice changes starting in a month, give or take." Link nodded diligently and hugged her new friend once more, uttering a near-whispered "thank you so much, Vilia."

"Of course, darling! Come with me, let's go sit by the waters of the oasis. I have a gross pan that need rinsing."

The sun was setting in the Gerudo desert, tinting the waters of the oasis a deep purple, and the sounds and sights of warm darners darting across the surface sent small ripples through the star reflected waters. Gerudo vai were packing their wares away for the day, as the crowds have died down and the lack of the sun was threatening to lower the temperature of the desert considerably.

Vilia grabbed the bucket they brought along with the pan and filled it with the oasis water.

"It'll get dreadfully cold soon, young vai. You should stay here at the inn for the night." Link was transfixed at a pair of darners, fluttering around each other until they dashed off towards the setting sun. Vilia scrubbed the large iron bowl with a sponge and piped up at the daydreaming girl; "Would you like to come with me to Gerudo town tomorrow? There's a market that sells a variety of vai clothing for little Hylians like you and I. Plus, you said you needed to be in Gerudo town, no?" Link looked over, the shine of a coat of the lotion treatment Vilia gave her reflected off her chest in the sunset light.

"I'd love that." She muffled quietly, and her smile could be seen in her crystal blue eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for continuing to read my fic that means a whole gosh darn lot! I really liked making Vilia less of a punchline here, and actually giving them a bit more personality? Also I feel like my writing only gets better from here? maybe not? I'm having a lot of fun writing it, and as long as there's a few people reading it, I'm very happily gonna keep going. Also comment! I really wanna know how im doing here :D


	3. You've come here to what?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link meets a cute couple, talks to the intimidating Gerudo chief, and puts herself in a situation she cant really wriggle her way out of.

That night, Link lay in the Inn’s very own premiere bed, a grand total of 40 rupees that she felt she deserved. All Link has known thus far is sleeping in the itchy woolen mattresses of the stables with her head uncomfortably resting on hastily crafted straw filled pillows, not to mention the stony bed. But this, this bed was divine. Woven silk sheets, a mattress lined with stitched together pelts of hunts long past, and the faint smell of lavender in the thick down pillow she rested her head on. She lay on her back, staring at the ceiling and watching the cracks that lined the old room while the days events ran through her head over and over again.

 _I wonder how the people of Kakariko will see me now. I hope they’ll let me into the_ village at all with me like this…

If there was anything that was keeping Link from doing this before her 100 year stasis, she didn't know what it was. Nerves? Obligation? Was it the fact that she had appearances to keep up? Just who _was_ she then? She felt a pang of sadness, thinking that she could have made this change so long ago.

 _Maybe I just thought everyone was this uncomfortable, and decided to live like that._ If this was the case, she absolutely didn't mind the fresh start. Her eyes grew heavy, and she began falling into a deep, comfortable sleep. 

Link awakened to the harsh morning light peaking through the lone window of the room she was in, and wiped her drool from her mouth before sitting up on the edge of the bed and yawning. 

_Vilia’s probably waiting for me on the roof,_ she thought, and started gathering her things. She slid on the Gerudo set once more, and she hugged herself, feeling just like the day before when it made her heart swell up with happiness and made her giddy with excitement. Link rubbed a thin slather of her new lotion treatment across her chest, swung her bag around on her back, and walked out of the room with a confident swish in her hips. 

Vilia was dusting the floor, most days having visitors most likely constantly tracking in sand, as they had a full dustpan of it and were just throwing it back outside when they noticed the small Hylian approaching them.

“Hi, Vilia.” Link said quietly, yet happily.

“Well look at that, she speaks! Oho!~ I trust you had a good nights’ rest. We have quite the adventure ahead of us today, dear! A journey of self discovery, maybe some food!” They took a long sigh and leaned on the broom, looking over the now clean floor of the Kara Kara Inn. “Ready to go?” they asked, eyes directly meeting Links. She nodded, giving a short but soft “yes!”

“Alright, little vai, let's be off!”

They walked through the sandy trail, and Link could notice the town from where they were. What once was probably a very, very high wall stood, half crumbled surrounding the entirety of the town, perhaps once giving it the privacy the Gerudo much prefer to have. As time as gone on, it seems that even Gerudo tradition has had to give wiggle room to the calamity as well, allowing and expecting traders from far and wide. Link could see the Hylian, Rito, and Gerudo traders walking among the trail.

“If the desert were alive, this would be its heart, darling.” Vilia said, smiling down at the small Hylian. They approached the gates of Gerudo town, guarded by two armored Vai who’s expressions softened upon seeing Vilia. 

“Sav’otta, Vilia” The Gerudo woman on the left spoke, a voice commanding and intimidating as her height.

“Sav’otta Liana, it’s good to see you, darling! We were just on our way to get this one some proper vai attire.”

“Sa’oten, small one” the Gerudo woman chuckled at the Hylian’s predicament, “lost your wardrobe?” She set her gigantic gerudo spear in the sand, cracking a smile as she looked the small hylian up and down. Link tried to make herself look as small as possible, pushing her somewhat broad shoulders down and looking up with an innocent expression at the Gerudo guard.

“She’s not a talker, but let’s just say her clothing experienced the tragedy that is dry Hylian grass in mid summer heat.” _Wow Vilia is a surprisingly good liar,_ Link thought, as Liana raised her eyebrows in empathy and looked down at the Hylian before her.

“I understand, I'm deeply sorry, small Vai. Clothing can be hard to come across, I hope you find our wares to suit you for years to come.” The Gerudo woman rolled her shoulders, stretching her most likely stiff muscles from standing all day long and moved aside and gesturing for the two to walk through to the town. “Go ahead, Vilia. It was good to see you.”

“Likewise, madam.”

The town was flooded with noise, bustling with vai from every town in Hyrule chatting, bartering, and sharing stories. Link felt scared, hoping no one would notice that she wasn't born a girl, like them. Vilia spoke up, their face close to the Hylian vai to make sure they could be heard

“Would you like to go shopping first, dear? We have time, well, at least I do, oho!~” Link nodded eagerly.

While Link was head over heels with this Gerudo outfit, she wondered what she might look like in something more fitting to a Hylian figure. She imagined dresses and tights, leather boots with intricate designs, crop topped shirts and short shorts.

“This way, girlie!” Vilia pulled the girl along with them, and into a shaded small building with stone mannequins that wore clothes of different outfits lining the walls of the store. Link saw one, a beautiful outfit. Something that fit the title of adventurer, a small, red jacket with pockets near the breasts and near the bottom zipper, a white top, laced with red near the neck that looked as if it would just fit her figure, along with a skin tight looking pair of dark, desert colored pants, a dark green bandana, and a pair of fairly standard hiking boots. Set neatly next to the ensemble was a rack of bras, and pairs of climbing gloves. 

Link knew she had the money for these, as bokoblins and moblins seemed to have a knack for collecting shiny things and only keeping them because of that fact. She pointed them out to Vilia.

“Oh darling, you’d be a knockout in that getup, no joke! Oho!~” Vilia waved the owner over, and asked a question in a language Link didn't understand. The two conversed for a few seconds, and Vilia looked back to Link. “Okay, hon. Go to the fitting room over there and try what you want on!” Link looked starry eyed at the outfit, and timidly grabbed the jacket, shirt, underwear, gloves, pants, boots, and bandana and walked nervously over to the fitting room. She stripped down to nothing, starting off with the initially confusing bra. 

_Oh jeez, how do I put this on._ She noticed the hooks that fastened the bra together, and pulled it around her frame. It was just a bit tight, but the optimistic and beautiful feeling the bra gave her made her forget all about it, rotating the bra to fit snugly where her breasts would be.

She had the idea to stuff some of the clothes she had into them, trying to make them look as real as possible until her real ones would fill in. She slipped her underwear on, as well as her jacket and the rest of her clothes, and secured the bandana around her face. She looked so stunning to herself. Like the last piece of a puzzle that has been lost from the rest of the pieces for so long, she felt as though she had found the last piece, and was finally seeing the finished picture of herself, the real person she was meant to be.

The whole outfit seemed a small amount tight, but nothing too bad. She’s sure the outfit would stretch out a bit over time, and the shoes would need to be worn in. She did something she hadn't considered doing at all up until this point, and moved her hands to the back of her head to untie her hair, the hair tie loose from being in the same position for so long. 

She put the hair tie in her jacket pocket, and swished her head, shaking her hair down. _I look so ...different...in a good way,_ she thought to herself, and her eyes welled with tears a bit before taking a moment to sit and let it all sink in. “You alright in there, darling?~” Vilia spoke softly, very close to the door.

“Yes” was all Link could say, as she put her hand to the door and turned the knob. Vilia’s eyes widened at the beautiful Hylian vai in front of them.

“Well look at you! You look superb in that outfit, young vai!” She felt just as superb as she looked. 

Link couldn't wait to not have to wear a face mask, wishing she had a more feminene face to be able to pass as a vai in front of all of the other vais filling the busy town. She purchased her entire outfit, putting a fairly sizeable dent in her wallet as she pulled 300 rupees out and handed them to the owner. The owner smiled wearily at Link, speaking something in Gerudo that sounded like a mumble.

“She said you look nice, darling~.” Vilia winked at the Hylian, and Link bowed thankfully at the old shopkeeper, and looked to Vilia so that the two may take their leave. 

Link was a bit stuffy in the outfit, it was more airy than her old tunic, but she really didn't mind the extra heat. Sweating just meant she had to drink more water, and looking and feeling so comfortable with herself made it all worth it. They walked past the waves of people, Link staying close to Vilia so to not lose sight of them amongst the varying sizes of vai that swarmed Gerudo town. Link remembered the chipped, bent and rusted sword she had left back at the inn. _It’s probably time for some new weapons,_ she thought, and pulled Vilia to whisper “I need weapons.” 

Vilia looked surprised for a moment, and whispered back.

“We’re relatively close to a small weapon shack, dear, let me walk us there, yes?~” They practically swam through the sea of people and made it to a small shack run by a tall, muscular Gerudo vai lying lazily against a rolled up rug and fanning herself in the desert heat. Link looked at the weapons that lay neatly on the ground. The glint of a slender crossbow, a gold metal as bright as the sun lined the beautiful grip, and the cream colored bow string was held taught and firm by the sturdy golden limbs on both sides caught the girls eye.

“An ara’vai, yes?” the Gerudo woman asked, looking amused at Link’s gaze at the crossbow. Vilia looked down at the confused girl.

“Ara’vai roughly translates to markswoman.”

Link nodded, pointing and gesturing to pick up and feel the weapon, to which the Gerudo vai nodded in response, before returning to fanning herself and shading her face with her hand. The crossbow was light and compact, it’s string was somewhat difficult to pull, and its grip was a bit big for Link’s smaller, more feminene hands. She nodded at the Gerudo woman, who squinted at Link to see through the desert suns rays. The Hylian paid for her new crossbow, and plenty of bolts. A steep price, but the craftsmanship was impeccable.

“Alright darling, I'd like to visit a friend before I go, so would you like to come along?~" Link nodded, thinking that any friend of Vilias would be a friend of hers as well. The two of them had to sort of stay near the wall, Vilia paying close attention as to not trip over any traders who had set up shop, as they looked for a specific building. They entered an alleyway, and crossed a less busy section of the town, before walking into the building Vilia had been looking for.

A tall Gerudo vai, large red hair up in a ponytail wearing a strikingly white sirwal and a traditional Gerudo top was staring intently at a book, leaning up against one of many stovetops that lined the room. Vilia called for the vai's attention

"Ashai, Sa'vaaq!" Raising an eyebrow, the vai glanced and did a double take at Vilia and Link, set the book down and immediately started taking large strides toward Vilia.

"Sa'vaaq, beautiful one!" She got one one knee and hugged Vilia's small frame tightly. They hummed lovingly in each other's arms before the two broke the hug, and, surprisingly to Link, exchanged a kiss. Link blushed, her shock being immediately noticed by Vilia.

"Link, this is my only, Ashai. Ashai, this is the ever beautiful and constantly blushing Link!~" She beamed as Ashai took Link's small, pale hand, squeezed it gently, and said

"Sa'vaaq."

Link looked to Vilia, back to the waiting Ashai, and managed to speak.

"Hello, there." Vilia rested their hand on a stovetop and leaned against it, looking at a still blushing Link.

"When I was new to Kara Kara at about 16, I met Ashai, who's mother still taught at the Gerudo studies and cooking class. I was lucky enough to find myself here learning right alongside her and we became fast friends, and eventually an item." Vilia looked extremely proud in that moment, admiring Ashai and their new friend. “Ashai owns this cooking and Gerudo studies class, and generally teaches anyone who wants to come by and learn. I’d still be burning food and speaking broken Gerudo if it weren't for this place.”

“Ah, yes!” Ashai began, Link noticing her thick accent. “would the two of you like to cook lunch with me?”

Link forgot she had not eaten yet today, and nodded graciously, and muttered “I'm so hungry,” which made her two new friends laugh. Ashai led the two to a large stovetop, and pulled a sack out from an icebox nearby. She began chopping meat, measuring water, oils and spices, throwing grains of rice in the wok and lit a fire under the shining pot.

“Mesmerizing watching her cook, hm?” Link stared in awe as the Gerudo woman threw chopped steak into a screaming hot wok. “I can never make curry quite as good as she can.”

“Oh, sa’oten Vilia” Ashai said, shocked, and stirred the steaming pot. “You’re better than I am at baking, the last time I tried to make a Hylian palm and apple pie I almost burned a hole in the floor!” Vilia cocked their head back and let out a snorting laughter

“Oh dear _GODDESS darling_ I don't know how you managed to make such a sweet and inviting dish smell so tragic!” They both laughed, and Link could feel the warmth and love of their shared memories. Watching people enjoy themselves to their fullest, loving as deeply as they can, made her little Hylian heart float.

"You two are a beautiful couple," she said, not really expecting herself to be able to say that much, but she felt so comfortable around these two. Ashai smiled at the Hylian girl, and put her arm around her lover

"If it is memories, and a lover to share them with you desire, I know you will find them. All that it takes is time. Besides, you're a beautiful vai. Any vai...or voe, would be lucky to have you."

Link blushed, and became absorbed in her own thoughts. _A voe?_ Link had never considered herself liking men, assuming she wasn't really meant to be with anyone. The hero's destiny from what she can gather, is to conquer the incarnation of Ganon and that's it, the story ends. The records of that era end and that reincarnation of the hero is never heard of again. Vilia spoke up, breaking Link out of her focus.

"Are you courting our guest? You deviant!" They looked in a mock expression of surprise at their lover. "At least feed her first!" Vilia said jokingly, as Ashai stirred the dish and playfully bumped Vilia with her hip. Ashai giggled to herself and looked down and the salty and spicy smelling dish

"Ah, it's done you two. Let us eat!" 

Link swung her bag to her front and fished out her favorite bowl and chopsticks.

"Oh~ our Hylian friend brings her own tablewear!" Vilia looked at the utensils. "Those are lovely! Such a dark wood, where did you get them?" Link looked down and frowned slightly, wishing she could say Hana's still her friend and believe it to be true.

"Kakariko village." she squeaked.

"Ah!" Vilia exclaimed. "Such a quaint little town I hear. When you live somewhere like the desert, woodwork is very few and far between!" Link ran her finger across the deep grooves in the dark woodgrain, until noticing Ashai offering her hand to Link, motioning to ask for the bowl, to which she obliged. Ashai quickly returned with a carefully assembled pillow of rice topped with chunks of thin steak in a rich golden brown sauce.

"This is spicy curry rice, I hope you enjoy the recipe! My Vaba is to thank for it." Ashai bent down and sat cross legged on a laid out rug, patting the empty space for the two to join. 

It was **The** single most delicious thing Link has ever had the pleasure of putting in her mouth. The depth to this flavor, a salty, spicy, creamy medley from the curry, the soft texture of the steaks medium rare insides with its crispy, browned outsides. She felt near tears. "Vilia, I think my curry may have killed this one." Link shook her head furiously, bouncing up and down, a look of intense determination in her eyes.

"It's _so_ good, Ashai!!" Link exclaimed happily, her voice nearly cracking at the strain.

"I still have that recipe for it I translated to Hylian, yes?" Vilia asked between bites.

"Of course, as long as it isn't in chicken scratch from the translation. I'll fetch it for her once we've finished." 

"So, Link" Ashai began, "what brings you to our slice of Hyrule? Are you a trader? Perhaps making your travel from your hometown in look of a suitor?" Link paused, not entirely sure where to take her approach, as this is her clean slate, her chance to be herself in front of this person that _doesn't_ know she's the legendary hero reincarnated. Link cleared her throat, and began.

"I'm here to tame Vah Naboris."

Both Vilia's and Ashai's eyes lit up and they stopped mid chew.

"Surely you aren't serious." Vilia said, half choking on her food from the news.

"I am." Link looked peacefully at her two friends and cleared her throat, straining to stay in her female register. "I'm going to tame them all. That's why I came here in the first place, to speak with Riju, and come up with a plan of attack." Ashai looked cautiously at Link, as if she was insane.

"Well, your efforts are as noble as your spirit. It warms my heart to know you'd put your life on the line to help my people, _and_ Hyrule." Vilia interrupted for a moment, "Darling you don't need to go and do this. You may not come back."

"Well.. I think I want to." Link responded. Ashai took a deep breath and looked to her new friend.

"Riju holds audience with anyone and everyone during the day, so long as there isn't a line, talking to her is no issue, however her bodyguard can be very bossy at times."

"Thank you", Link softly said. Vilia spoke up, as if just remembering something.

“Link, dear. I believe someone...I believe you should gather someone to speak for you, as your voice has not had time to become fully trained, you may alert your nature to Riju and her royal guard.” 

This made sense to Link, but it still hurt nonetheless. She vowed with everything in her to take all the time she could after this working on her new tone.

“I will go with you, I've held audience with the Gerudo chief many times.” Ashai spoke, paused for Link’s affirmation, and continued on. “The rampage Vah Naboris has been raging in our desert for about 10 years now must come to a stop for our town to flourish as it once has.” She paused and looked down at her empty bowl.

“If no hero of legend is to walk through our town to right the wrongs Calamity Ganon has created, maybe you will rewrite prophecy itself.” Vilia looked curiously at Link, as if studying her.

“Well, I do believe it's getting rather late, and if you wish to speak with Riju, she won't be holding audience for much longer. If all of this goes well, I hope that we can celebrate, all three of us.” Ashai looked up at a cabinet, picked up her bowl and stood up, towering over the other two and setting her utensils down near a stovetop.

“Here little one.” She pulled out a small leather box and opened its contents. Neatly organized cards lined the opening, and Ashai rifled through them, searching for something specific. “If you ever want, this is my families curry recipe, if in scratchy Hylian.” Link stood and accepted the small card, nodding in appreciation, excited to see if she could one day have the skill that the Gerudo had at making such delicious food. “I hope it to be a sufficient parting gift to honor our friendship.”

Vilia gave Link a surprise hug from behind, and squeezed her as best they could. “You better come out of this alive, darling. Celebrating such a feat with you would be an honor above honors.”

“Thank you, Vilia” Link said in her quiet, unassuming, and still untrained tone.

The three stood outside, watching the cacophony of people that filled Gerudo town earlier in the day losing their numbers for the evening, as guards of the Gerudo lit torches to serve the towns’ night life.

“We must go now if we wish to make it to lady Riju.” Ashai spoke firmly, almost monotonously.

“Well, I don't believe ill be able to assist you _here,_ darling.” Vilia stated, giving a playful curtsy. “I hope that we see each other again soon though, especially 3 or 4 months from now. I can't wait to see how that lotion works its magic on you, dear!~” Vilia winked at the blushing Hylian, who found herself daydreaming of her life that far from now, what progress will be made with her body.

Link embraced her new friend, whispering a gracious “thank you so much” in their ear.

“I'll be waiting for you here, dearest!” Vilia said to Ashai, blowing a kiss and giving a playful wink to the tall and stoic Gerudo, whose expression softened for just a moment to give a loving smile to her partner. The two strode along, Link forcing herself to hold her head high, despite her feelings of anxiousness even in the less than busy town centre. Ashai led link to a small hideaway beside the main town square to a small, compact military centre with training dummies that had spear marks littering their bodies. Ashai seemed tense, quieter than what the small Hylian had seen of her so far.

They walked up a sandstone stairway that faced the line of training dummies, and the sound of Ashai’s high heeled shoes clacking and echoing against cool, blue marbled stone indicated they were near the royal room. Through another doorway began a red carpet that ran itself all the way to a large chair with a small Gerudo child, sitting rather lazily and comfortably, and beside her stood the largest Gerudo Link has seen thus far. Intimidating, commanding, with a permanent scowl across her face. Clutched firmly in her hands was a bejeweled spear with an almost white metal blade, reflecting the light from the opulent chandeliers that loomed above. As they approached, the large, looming bodyguard perked up, snapping a finger which seemed to jolt the small girl to attention. 

“Lady Riju, these two seem to seek audience with you.” She billowed; her voice was as intimidating as her looks, a low, disarming one that carried the fury of an army behind it. Link stood almost behind Ashai, using her height to shield her from the bodyguards intense glare.

“Well, what a pair.” Riju held an inquisitive and arrogant tone, a quality unlike her young age. “Ashai, what brings you here with half of a Hylian vai, hm?” Link noticed she was hiding _too_ far behind the Gerudo woman, and peeked herself out, bowing at the royalty before her.

“This one has a strange request for you, one of which I still cannot truly understand myself.” Ashai said humbly. Riju perked an eyebrow, looking to the pale skinned Hylian before her. Upon further inspection, Riju was adorned in a bejeweled headdress, and traditional gerudo vai garb, not unlike one normally worn by the vai in the town, if it weren't for the jewels and bright stones that littered the garment. It was absolutely stunning, especially in contrast to the girls deadpan gaze.

“Oh? A question that stumps the esteemed teacher of the Gerudo people herself? Do tell, Hylian.” Ashai spoke in place of Link.

“She wishes to calm Vah Naboris.” The bodyguards firm, ramrod stance broke slightly as she exhaled and looked to lady Riju for her response.

“Sa’oaten.” Riju mused, almost impossibly not visibly reacting to the statement just made before her. “The hero of legend takes his time, and yet we have this unassuming Hylian vai here _daring_ to take his place? Is she mad?” Riju rested her hand on her cheek and looked to the Hylian, an amused sparkle dotted the Chiefs eye as Link shook her head, and Ashai spoke once more.

“No, your highness. Her intentions are completely with a clear mind.” Link glanced up at Ashai, a look of gratitude stretched across her face at her friends praise.

“Lady Riju, you mustn't even consider this!” the bodyguard spoke up to the girl, to which Riju raised a hand at her.

“Hold, Bularia. Let us explain some things first, this may be the first entertaining guest we’ve had all day.” Riju paused, and looked back to Link. “Urbosa was the leader before myself, her iron will had led our people into prosperity without pause until she was taken from us trying to use the ancient technology of the Shiekah people to destroy the Calamity. Her journal entries given to me by her handmaidens tell of the Sheikah slate. Our friend here seems to have it in her possession.”

Both Ashai and Bularia seemed to be surprised by this, yet kept their reactions to a minimum to let the Gerudo Chief continue.

“When our Chief died, it left us without a leader. Not only did Vah Naboris’ tantrums cut our trade routes in _half_ , but it had severed us of the most important leader our people have known to _date.”_ Her tone seemed to rise, and she looked on her guest with eyes that lit up like the desert heat. “You bring to me an instrument that can calm this beast, yet seeing it with my own eyes….You are lucky you are not the great hero. If it were him holding audience with me, I would see to it he and his slate would _not_ leave this chamber.” Her voice echoed off of the spotless, marble walls and she paused. Her fury and passion had hit a high point, and she slumped again to collect herself. Link was just as terrified of the Chief as she thought she would be, looking up at Ashai to see that not even _she_ could give a look of consolation back to the small Hylian. 

“Firstly, how did this one acquire such an item?” Link, shaking still with anxiety, motioned for Ashai to move her head close so she could whisper. “She says it is an ancient relic of the Shiekah people in Kakariko, and that she has been training so that she may calm the four corners of our once great realm.” Ashai spoke.

 _I guess im a good liar too,_ Link thought to herself.

Riju looked down at the blue eyed girl, cocking an eyebrow and taking a moment to ponder the statement. “If you insist on helping us, you will be the one to enter the beast. I will _not_ lose my people to that raging beast any longer.” Link nodded, gazing at the ground as if she had just been scolded for all of the wrongdoings that have been put upon the Gerudo people. “A few more things. Vah Naboris has the ability to harness lightning, as you most likely have noticed yourself.” Bularia nodded in agreement with Riju, looking to her esteemed chief with a mixture of pride and loyalty. 

“The people of Gerudo have a helm, a relic of sorts like the slate on your hip. One that has been passed down for generations. If you wear this helm, the beasts lightning will not harm you.”

"But Lady Riju, you surely aren't going to-” Bularia interrupted, before being snapped at by Riju.

“Not now, let me make the decisions for my people. Kindly retrieve the helmet for me, Bularia.” The bodyguard, with reluctance written on her face, swiftly moved across the red carpet to another room, and Riju spoke once more. “Let it be known, brave Vai, that if you lose that helmet, our guards will be taking your slate in kind.” Link’s knees shook, and she gulped dryly and nodded anxiously at the commanding Chief. Ashai piped up.

“I think our guest understands the implications of this feat lady Riju. I'll see to it that she receives a sand seal to aid in her attempt.”

“That won't be necessary.” Riju began. “Lend her a Gerudo horse from the armory pen. If she’s going to try and make history, we might as well let her with something that she can no doubt control. I am putting my utmost faith in you, Hylian.” 

Link looked at her as determidly as she could, nodding firmly as the bodyguard returned with an odd, sharp looking crown on a red velvet pillow. Bularia brought herself to one knee, showing the small leader the gleaming, bronzed helmet.

“Your highness, the helm.” Rija gestured her hand to Link.

“Give it to the vai.” The bodyguard got on one knee in front of Link and glared at her with death in her eyes. Link hesitantly and timidly grasped the crown, taking care to not harm it, with her eyes darting in any direction other than Bularia’s hateful gaze.

“I will send a guard for you tomorrow morning. You have a reservation at the Hotel Oasis, courtesy of yours truly. Sav’orq, Hylian.” Ashai spoke in Link’s stead.

“Thank you Lady Riju.” 

The enormous weight of being in Lady Riju’s presence knocked the air out of the two vai as they exited the temple and entered into the coolness of the blue desert night.

“Let us walk to the inn, we shall talk on the way there.” They strode down the stairs of the armory and walked through into towns square, continuing their way to the hotel. “I am sorry, Link. I... knew that she would react the way she had.” She broke her eyes from Link, looking straight ahead of her to avoid the Hylians gaze. “The ties that you have to the ancient hero, that Shiekah slate, the importance of this task to the people of Gerudo... but it would not surprise me if Lady Riju herself is actually grateful for you.” This surprised Link as she let her friend continue. 

“Years and years of progression and tradition tarnished by the beast of the Sheikah, and no one has had anyone to take it out on.” She paused, and the footsteps of the two were the only thing you could hear aside from the faint popping and crackling of the towns torches. Ashai carefully put an arm around the Hylian and looked down at her as they walked. “You are no punching bag for my people, I assure you. The politics here have just...tightened up...since the calamity. We are much less communicative with other cultures since we had lost our old leader. My mother spoke of Urbosa with such pride, as do all of the elders here that remember her. She opened our doors and pushed education of the world outside of ours. We had two trade routes, and talks of building another Gerudo town with the Kingdom of Hyrule's help. There was such progress to be made, and yet, it seems as all four corners of this great realm were crippled, pushing even the _idea_ of progress so far back.”

Link could hear Ashai’s voice falter, the burden of injured prosperity was heavy in the air of the people of Gerudo town, even its most optimistic and strong of heart.

“Hey.” Link said, a determined look on her face. “I'll fix this.” Ashai laughed at such a simple response from such a long winded speech, and how reassured it made her nonetheless.

“You truly are mad, little vai.” She nudged the Hylian playfully and almost knocked her off balance. “Ah, im so sorry!” Link broke out in laughter, and soon after so did Ashai.

They approached the Hotel, its lights from the inside shone dimly on the sandstone ground near its doors. “I will probably not see you until after your attempt on Vah Naboris, as a guard will be here to help you just after dawn breaks.” Link nodded firmly, and reached her arms out for a hug from her new friend. “You are a wonderful soul, dear vai. I hope your dreams are pleasant.”

“Thank you Ashai. So are you.” Link said happily.

As Link applied her lotion treatment for the night in the lone, small hotel room, she felt a strange calm. She felt she could do this, that the idea of calming this beast should come as second nature to her as fighting itself. Her mind wandered to the crossbow she had set on the table in her room, and she picked it up for further inspection. If there was anything Link could assume about the beast, its that hitting the metal monstrosity with a sword would do no harm to it. Perhaps there were buttons, switches, some kind of weakness. She held the crossbow firmly in her hands, pulling the string back to meet the catch at the middle of the weapon. It felt natural, just as every weapon put into her hands was. For once, this was a relief. If she was going to make a name for herself as the stranger that stopped the calamity, it would be an honor for her to do so with a weapon as intricate and lovely as this one. 

Link laid in the comfortable Oasis Inn bed, thinking about the type of person she was before the Calamity. She must have been charitable, just as she felt the need to be now, but the idea of being the princess’ escort, being her shadow and following her every move made her feel sick to her stomach. She rolled over in her queen sized bed and grabbed one of the two pillows in the room and brought it close to her, wrapping her delicate arms around it and squeezing it close to her bare chest. Link felt guilty, being happy that her reawakening brought a chance for her to be her own person. Maybe being so cooped up Hyrule’s royal affairs, she didn't have time to pay attention to herself at all. The Hylian nuzzled her face into the pillow, and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I absolutely took some liberties with Riju and the entirety of the Gerudo in general. I think in the past games they're a very shut off and traditional people, and in this one they seem more relaxed, which is great, but I also think the Calamity ABSOLUTELY would have shut them up, keeping from opening up again, and Link getting to deal with the fallout is something I had a lot of fun writing in this chapter. Thanks for reading and pls comment if you can!


	4. Does this color look good on me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The L i n k v s N a b o r i s face-off. WHO WILL WIN???

The morning began with a start, the door keeping the Hylian girl in her bubble of privacy being knocked on loudly by a Gerudo Soldier. “Hylian, the chief sent me for you.” Link quickly flipped out of bed, throwing on her clothes, re-remembering how to hook on a bra, and desperately trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

 _I would really love some of Impa’s tea right now,_ she nervously thought as she hooked her crossbow to her back, readying herself for what will hopefully be the reclamation of the Gerudo Desert. Link pulled the door open, her messy bed head stuck looking like an explosion went off near her face, and greeted the Soldier with a nervous smile. 

A tall, dark Gerudo with a large pom of red hair tied firmly with a bejeweled band stood over the Link. The soldier no doubtedly had a grimace, but it was hidden by a veil that was pulled over just under her nose.

“Riju really thinks you can tame Vah Naboris, hm?...Interesting.” She bent over and got her face a little bit too close to Link, looking her over before standing back upright and scoffing. “Come.” Link anxiously followed the soldier through the cool morning air, the town still stretching its legs as people began meandering out to sleepily set up their wares and foods for trade.

“We hope you understand that we will not be telling anyone but the soldiers of your attempt. It would be tragic to the common folk of our town to get their hopes up for such a dire operation.” She spoke in a surprisingly deadpan tone, especially in reference to Links possible demise. 

Perhaps being hopeful of something like this after so long of things being nothing but tragedy could only lead to an even harder fall of spirits if her attempt fails. The soldier looked to Link’s back, perking up a bit at her crossbow. “Ah, you choose wisely, ara’vai.” she looked proudly at the weapon before continuing. “That one is modeled after a Hyrule Royal guard blueprint, however, what makes it _truly_ remarkable, is the Gerudo blacksmith that dedicates so much love into the craft. One of the things that we can truly call ours.” Link smiled at her, wishing she could express her love for the care put into her weapon without alerting herself to the soldier with her less than perfect voice. Link was immediately reminded of the smell of the stables as they approached a small room, connected to but outside of the square area of Gerudo town. 

The soldier swung the heavy door open, the room lit by small openings in the sandstone walls that concentrated in the desert sun.

“You may take a Gerudo mare, if only for this specific excursion as stated by Lady Riju.” Link didn’t _completely_ know how to ride a horse, but hopefully it would be second nature to her, like combat tended to be in general. “Take this one.” she led a large mare over to the Hylian, its muscles being accentuated by its stark black hair that shone through the suns rays. “He’s completely saddled, the only thing you need to do here is..well...your best.” Link looked down, increasingly nervous at what she was about to do. 

There was no turning back, and yet she finds herself shaking from nerves.

“Here, take these for that crossbow” She motioned for Link to hold out her hand, and she set a bundle of 5 bolts with strange, red orbs on the ends into her palm. “They’re bomb bolts, the friction from shooting them lights them.” She used her hands to demonstrate her point, pushing her palm through past her arm.

“Luckily for you, they’re sort of a Gerudo specialty, and that crossbow on your back would pair nicely with them. If you’re going to slow the beast, at least use something that has a small amount of stopping power.”

The horse she was meant to ride was much larger than a normal horse in Hyrule fields, its large frame and bulky muscles proving that it was more than capable of handling desert heat, as if by sheer strength alone. Link somehow hopped her way up onto the beast, swinging her leg over the saddle and running a hand through its mane to calm it from being mounted.

“Sav’orq, little fool. Regardless of whether or not you return, the soldiers that protect our people will remember you for your bravery.”

Link definitely didn't feel brave, grabbing tightly onto the brown leather reins in an attempt to tether herself to the situation she had put herself in, and she flicked her wrist to signify for the horse to trot out of the small stable. A large cloud of sand hovered in the distance, the horse looking in the beasts exact direction alongside Link, as if knowing what brings them both out here on this cool, yet quickly warming desert morning.

Link fixed the blocky, bronzed helm to her head, barely giving her eyes room to see from being wedged between the headwear and her bandana veil. She pulled her crossbow out and pulled the string back to the catch, locking the weapon and readying it to fire before setting a bomb bolt directly in its center. 

She rested the crossbow on her shoulder with one arm, and clicked her tongue loudly, bringing the gargantuan mare to a solid canter. The shape of the Divine Beast made itself apparent through the sandstorm it kicked up through it’s accordian-like legs, pumping into the ground in a slow, yet menacing gait.

Vah Naboris resembled a camel, electrical antenne stuck out like barbs connected two reservoir-esque cylinders on its back, and its face was an essentially gigantic flat stone, lined with eight intimidating red glowing sensors. The horse never faltered in the face of the beast, only moving itself in steady, brave strides toward it. The eyes on the face plate of Vah Naboris blinked with a dim, red light, and the barbs of metal on the sides of its reservoirs began sparking. 

_If im gonna die, it's probably gonna be soon,_ She thought, immediately regretting it as Naboris sent a roaring boom of a scream through the air, sounding like a mix between an elephant and metal scraping against metal, making Link’s ears ring and temporarily quieting everything around her.

Static electricity caused Links hair to stand, small sparks teasing the top of the helmet she wore, and she pulled her crossbow from her back, hoping to die looking like her skeleton was at least trying to best the beast. The crackling of the lightning grew, pushing on the bronze relic and multiplying until a sharp metallic _thump_ was felt on the top of the helmet, and a circle of sparks flew to the ground and scattered into the sand.

 _That was it?_ She thought, a surge of adrenaline and short lived relief coursing through her body as she noticed the beasts massive hooves moving up and into the sand. It’s hooves were black and red, glowing with a disturbing, unnatural energy that was reminiscent of the cancerous clouds of Calamity Ganon that danced angrily around the Hyrule Castle tower. If there was anything to shoot, it would be those.

She took aim at the first hoof, sand threatening to cake her eyes closed as the torrent from the beast’s tantrums grew more furious. She pushed the release, the smell of smoke paired along with a quick flash pulsed in her senses as the bolt soared through the sandstorm, a small yet devastating explosion met with its first target. Link was almost certain she missed, until an angry scream nearly shook the sands of the Gerudo desert into the air, and another quick and hard _thump_ was felt on the top of the helmet, Link left feeling like she got punched in the head. 

The horse she sat upon slowed, but it kept a steady pace with the limping beast. It seemed to Link that the horse itself was more brave than she was, or perhaps, just as foolish. Vah Naboris took a lame step with its now completely tan hoof, the blight from it now drained. Link hastily pulled the string back to the catch, and placed another bolt in its center, crinkling her nose in concentration and taking aim at the second hoof as time seemed to slow around her, she released the bolt and watched the cascading sparks from the bomb’s fuse shoot through the air and meet with its intended target.

Another earth shaking roar trembled the ground, and a series of angry bashes against her head was felt, sending sparks flying in every direction off of the helmet Link wore, telling her that she was absolutely _loathed_ by the beast she was trying to tame. 

_Just two more_ , she assumed, readjusting the helmet and loading the crossbow once again as she pulled the horse toward the back of the now constantly screaming beast. Sounds of steam releasing from valves and heavy blaring alarm-like roars tore through the air, and it wouldn't surprise Link if it was the wake-up call for the entirety of Hyrule that morning.

She tapped the release of the crossbow as an updraft of sand peppered her face, an unfamiliar sting assaulted her exposed skin and she winced through the pain. The bolt soared through, curving through the draft in the air and smacking the beast in its second to last corrupted hoof.

Naboris paused in strange silence, the feeling of static and the taste of copper now palpable in the air. She quickly loaded her next to last bolt and aimed sloppily at the last hoof just as the strongest bolt of lightning yet collided with the helmet, and the only sound she could seem to hear in that moment was her spine popping and threatening to crack under the pressure of the lightning’s force. The helmet flew off her head, and her hair flew completely back, allowing her to see that she had missed her target by a longshot. The horse she rode was now in less high spirits, and in a surprising flash, bucked the girl off and fled from the giant beast toward its home. 

The blighted hoof still lay, half buried in the sand as the other hooves shook and popped, struggling to move from the Hylian as she rolled over in the sand and pulled the crossbows string back once more. The feeling of static began meeting at her head, and if she didn't make this next shot, she would feel much more than the spine cracking thump that hit her helmet moments ago.

The smoking, black and red hoof lifted into the air, trying to assist in the beasts slow, calculated movements as Link weakly and shakily loaded her last bomb bolt. She pulled the crossbow in front of her and squinted her eyes, the feeling of static now pulling on her head keeping her almost distracted from her target. She hit the release, the bomb flying briskly through the torrent of air, and just as the pulling of the static reached its climax, the bomb met with the blighted hoof. The static ceased, and the engine-like roar of Vah Naboris slowed, clunking sounds echoed through the vast desert as the hair that stood tall above the Hylian’s head fell as the lightning died down. 

Vah Naboris shook slightly, and its legs began moving again. It now seemed to be moving towards a crouching position. Link blew the staticky hair that had rested itself down on her face out of her eyes, and moved her gaze to the beast. It was now completely crouched, its accordion-like legs buried in the sand and a huge set of stairs shot and uncoiled, clunking out of its building-sized side. 

_Looks like I'm not entirely done,_ Link thought, her bones and muscles beginning to feel an intense ache now that the adrenaline was fading. She pulled herself from the Link shaped dent she had made in the sand, collected the nearby thunder helm that was wedged in the ground, and half-limped over to the stairs. Vah Naboris was calm, for the most part. It was still making noise; a low and constant mechanical grumble that made Link nervous to get anywhere near it. Every part of her was screaming to get away, but in fear of Naboris throwing another tantrum she felt the need to make haste. She walked up the rough, wind beaten stone and entered the belly of the Divine beast, its interior covered in a thick layer of sand, yet it looked impeccable. Slightly bumpy stone-like metal lined the wall, and blue neon lines of power connected from power source to power source, all leading up to a glowing, orange flower shaped console in the middle of the room. 

Link felt the Shiekah slate vibrate heavily on her hip, its orange and blue interface glowing the same hue as the artificial veins that served as the divine beast’s power lines. The slate had a square prompt set directly in its middle, flashing to show urgency. Link set it firmly near the middle console where it vibrated the most intensely, and it magnetized itself to the console. It whirred for a moment, flashes of diagrams and words in an ancient language popping up on the screen before clicking loudly. Vah Naboris let out a sharp hiss, one that sounded like steam escaping from a gigantic pressurized canister, and Link could swear it sounded like a sigh of relief.

“You know, it is true, the Shiekah really did put a personality into this beast.”

Link spun around, meeting the gaze of a tall Gerudo, one that seemed to be weightless and breathtaking, whose footsteps made no noise as she walked towards the Hylian. The Gerudo chief wore a large, blue and red striped chest piece lined with gold along with a long blue skirt that was attached to a thick gold belt, lipstick and fingernails painted blue that contrasted against her strikingly red hair. Blue flame hugged her frame and danced around her feet in silent embers as she walked, and she ran a hand across the stone-like metal at the console. Her ghostly appearance reminded Link of the old King, and she very quickly put together that this was Urbosa’s spirit.

“You got ...prettier, Link.” She spoke in a plain Hylian accent, not even a shred of the normally thick Gerudo accent could be heard. Link looked wide eyed at the ground, assuming that this woman knew of her before the Calamity, and the Hylian let out a weak, fake chuckle. 

Urbosa began speaking again in her deep and commanding tone.

“I'm sure you’re doing a great job disguising yourself as a Vai to enter Gerudo town, huh little guy?” That stung. Link feeling a swift punch to the gut by Urbosa’s words, even if they were meant as a joke. She felt as though she would retaliate to defend her identity, but was also afraid that the sound of her less than perfect voice would make the spirit of the Gerudo Chief more amused. 

“I was the pilot to this titan. It and I were supposed to share a sort of bond, it was meant to be an extension of my own iron fist upon Ganon’s writhing plague. But in a flash, in an _instant_ my life and the plans Zelda and I-, well, all of us, had strived for were brought to cinders.”

Link met the tall, royal woman's gaze, and Urbosa looked down, dryly and disappointedly.

“You never were a talker. I'm sure if I asked the status of my own people you couldn't even cough up an answer.” She paused, biting her lip in regret as she saw Link’s eyes dart to the floor. “I’m sorry, I shouldn't have said that. One hundred years of being spiritually tossed around by a piece of Ganon's own blight is something that can chip away at you, yet I can see that you don't even remember me at all.” She paused and looked longingly outside of the opening on the side of Vah Naboris.

“Assuming Ganon blindsided us all by sabotaging all of the divine beasts, all of the pilots were taken out at the same time. Revali, Mipha, and Daruk are also likely to be out there. We can't control the beasts like we could when we were...not dead...but we can move them within the line of sight of the castle and use the primary cannons that are set in each of them.” 

She looked to Link, who seemed to be staring off into space while she spoke. Not that she didn't care, she just felt so...out of body at that moment. “I hope that one day you can remember Zelda. She was the best political strategist Hyrule had ever seen, and I very much enjoyed working alongside her. She was...strong.” She paused, still staring out of the beast at the golden sands of Gerudo, before she looked over and began walking to the console “You should get out, I'm going to bring Vah Naboris to Spectacle rock, and then my spirit will be released. I’m sorry I've been so cross, and I wish this wasn't the goodbye I have to give you, but it is.” Link dipped her head down and moved out of Vah Naboris, trying to ignore the rumbling that began in the beast, and quickly hopped down the stairs. The small Hylian looked to the hazy mirage of Gerudo town, and the rumble of the divine beast shook her gaze as it stood itself up slowly, taking large strides toward the tall mountain of spectacle rock. 

Link ached, a lot. As she walked as briskly as she could toward Gerudo town, her mouth dry and tacky from dehydration, her face sore and red from the lashings of sand and heat across her sensitive fair skin, she noticed people walking outside of Gerudo town. They cheered, soldiers leaving their posts and shopkeepers leaving their wares unattended to watch the beast slowly stomp its way out of the Gerudo desert proper. Some threw rocks to spite the beast, some threw themselves into the arms of the ones nearest them and sobbed. The wounds of the Gerudo people had a long time ahead of them to heal, but for once the looming sense of doubt and injured pride of the town had died down to nothing, and the air was light with optimism. 

Link approached a ring of guards near the front gates, and the group opened up to show Riju, sitting on a cloth chair being held up by two guards. For a long moment, it was silent, and it felt as though everything quieted around the aura of authority of the Gerudo chief.

“I’ve doubted you, heroine, and for that I am sorry.” She kept an air of professionalism, but her voice quivered. “You’ve shown the Gerudo people honor, courage, and boldness that has been unseen since Urbosa set herself to operate that rampaging death trap.” Link bowed her head in appreciation at the chief's words. “You will be remembered. The Champion of Hyrule may be dead, gone, killed, who knows. There are Hylian statues of his likeness in less ruin than his legacy seems to be, because you have subverted tales of old, and you alone have inspired both the Gerudo and vai alike for generations to come.”   
  


Riju snapped and motioned for her guards to set her down, and she produced a box the size of Link’s arm from behind the seat.

“As a gift for your courage, I offer you the Blade of the Eight. A sword that has been passed down from Urbosa to myself. If anyone was fit to use her sword, it would be a vai just as brave as herself.” Link grasped the box, and unlocked the heavy leather case. A reasonable sized gold hilted scimitar lay in the red velvet lined box, its silver blade reflected the girls blue eyes that were near tears in appreciation.

 _This is so much better than that rusty piece of junk,_ she mused. Link paused for a moment, and grabbed from her bag the thunder helm.

“Sarqso, Hylian vai. I believ-.”

All eyes suddenly looked to Vah Naboris, as it roared once more, and appeared to be settling down into spectacle rock. The crowd grew still with worry and confusion, but as the camel titan situated itself, a red tracer beam shot from its faceplate, and focused itself directly at the tower of Hyrule where Ganon festered. It took a moment for the crowd to realize what the beast was aimed at, but uproar and cheer erupted nonetheless throughout the people of Gerudo town and the Hylian and Rito traders alike.

"You are welcome anytime, courageous vai." Riju stated professionally. Carefully grabbing the thunder helm, she offered a surprisingly soft smile as she was lifted back up by her soldiers. 

Link was suddenly tackled from the side, being held onto by a person only a little larger than her size. The smell of jasmine, and the jingling of wrist bangles immediately gave away who it was.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, you fool! Ashai and I could barely sleep last night, darling!” Vilia pulled back and looked at the beaten, hurt and bruised Hylian. “Oh you need the spa. Your pores are screaming, Link. I'm paying for us to go to the spa as soon as possible, okay?” They spoke quickly, shaking the Hylian urgently by the shoulders, their eyes wide before they went in for a hug again. Link felt loved and appreciated, and that was all she felt she needed right now, and in addition to the generosity that she’s gotten in the past few days, calming Vah Naboris is something she’d do again in a heartbeat. Soon after, Ashai picked the Hylian up and squeezed her, lolling her around in a muscular grip before plopping her back down.

“You cheat death itself! Where did you learn to use a bow like that?” Her question was just as much of a mystery to Link, as she shrugged her shoulders and laughed along with her two friends.

The next few hours consisted of people talking with elated optimism of the days events, and the pale Hylian vai who single handedly reversed a curse that plagued them. The night approached as Vilia, Ashai and Link sat once again in the cooking classroom that Ashai taught in. This time, it was Vilias turn to cook, and 3 full plates of buttery, cream filled crepes sat complimented alongside sour bundles of wildberry jelly. Link was absolutely railed by the flavors, all the while thinking that a quiet, homely meal between 3 friends would be more than enough of a celebration for her.

“No matter how dim the lights are in here, I can still see the redness of your cheeks, it looks so painful, darling…” Vilia stated quietly. Link nodded, pulling down her veil to show that it hadn't just been her cheeks that had been hurt. 

Her lips were chapped and dry, her face and neck were scratched painfully in places where particularly large grains of sand made their marks. Vilia looked at the girl, and they pouted their face in a mixture of anger and sadness.

“I can empathize, darling. Hylian skin is fragile, and when I came here, more often than not my face was beaten badly, too...not that badly” they gestured at Links face, “but badly.” They set their fork down and mused. “Well, the spa fixed that, Gerudo skincare is an absolute marvel, oho!~” Ashai spoke up.

“If you aren't feeling too hurt in the morning, we can all go tomorrow!” Ashai caught a glimpse of Links fingers, her hands about to shovel another bite of crepe into her mouth, and politely continued. “Romah also does manicures, if that's something that interests you.” Ashai gestured to Links’ delicate hands, her fingers and fingernails were dry from the wind and heat treatment they had endured earlier today. 

Link remembered Urbosa’s fingernails, so brightly contrasting her hair, as if lighting up all of the parts that made her gorgeous and so intimidatingly striking. She wanted that color, and she wanted her hands and skin to feel beautiful. A bubble of happiness popped in Links chest, and she smiled brightly, showing her cracked lips and stretching the cuts on her face.

“I would love that.” she said, pulling her knees up to her own chest and hugging them tightly.

Ashai and Vilia walked the girl to the hotel, Link still hurting from todays excursion, and they cautiously peppered her with questions of her next move.

“Do you plan to tame the others?” Ashai spoke, looking down at the blonde girl as Vilia also asked.

“Have you so much as _seen_ the other beasts, darling?”

“No, but-”

“One crawls upon Death Mountain, for the Eights sake!” Ashai interrupted, and Link was taken aback by the idea of taming a divine beast in harsher conditions than the hot sands of Gerudo, but smiled nonetheless, glad that her friends cared so much about her wellbeing.

“I guess ill have to do one of the others first, right?” She smiled nervously through her bandana, the wariness written across her eyes to her worried friends. 

They stood outside the hotel, and the streets were silent. Most of Gerudo’s people celebrating in their homes or traveling outside of the town to tell relatives or friends of the beast’s long overdue takeover. “Well...from what the Rito people who find themselves trading here say, theirs is in the sky.” Link’s heart sank, her task seeming to be getting more ridiculously impossible by the moment. “And the last?” she said, disappointedly. Ashai spoke again, her voice showing uncertainty.

“The last is in Lanayru, but unfortunately I could not be able to tell you of its nature. The Zora do not fare well in the desert, and the only trade routes existed long ago, aside from that, we do not communicate. I’m sorry, I wish I could help you more.”

“It’s okay.” Link perked up, and smiled at her friend, eyebags threatening to form under her eyes from exhaustion. 

“We won't keep you any longer, and we’ll be right here in the inn tomorrow morning okay, darling?” Vilia softly put a hand on her friend's shoulder, speaking in her low and motherly tone. Link hugged the two, thanking them again, before parting ways with them.

Link stripped down, applied her strongly scented minty lotion to her chest, and immediately plopped into bed for the night, her mind barely even having a chance to comprehend the comfort that enveloped her body from the cloud-like mattress until she fell asleep, her arm wrapped lazily around the pillow next to her. 

The morning came, and Link woke naturally, the sun peaking through the window onto her drool covered, messy haired face. She felt the pain of yesterday's events still aching her muscles and straining her joints. She peeled her sweaty figure out of the bed, the heat coming in from the steadily rising desert morning sun, and comfortably put on her bra, feeling beaming pride in herself for getting the hang of it, put on the rest of her clothes, and walked out to meet her friends in the hotel lobby. 

Vilia and Ashai sat around a table, Vilias hand grasping around an ice filled cup with a red, seed filled drink, sipping and chatting with their partner. Link approached idly, smiling at her friends, and the two lit up seeing her.

“Look at sleeping beauty!” Ashai cooed, Vilia cracking a large smile as they took a sip from their drink. The Hylian sat down, eyes half open and she rested her head on Ashais arm, smiling peacefully.

“Do they have…black tea here?” Link mumbled.

“Yes I believe they do, would you like a cup of tea, sleepy vai?” “

Yes please.” Vilia rose from their seat, walking towards the front desk of the spa, and made the order. The two friends sat in silence, listening to the sound of one of the few Hotel Oasis employees mixing a steeper of loose leaf black tea into a steaming cup.

“After we’re done here we can go into the spa and start our treatments, the spa is unsurprisingly not very busy at all today.” Link smiled lazily, half comprehending her friends words as she nearly fell back asleep, suddenly awoken by a bitter, fruity, warm smell placed in front of her.

Link sipped lovingly on the tea, careful of the sting it gave to her dry lips.

“We know you’re probably leaving today, and I certainly want you to know you’re always welcome.” Vilia spoke, setting a hand on the table and looking to the sleepy Hylian. “Especially, you know, 3 or so months from now when you’ll need to get more lotion” they looked distraught, not wanting Link to assume she had to visit without her own volition. “Unless you want to simply make it yourself! But I much prefer the idea of you paying a visit, darling, so I really don't mind lending you the help whenever you need more!”

“Of course ill be back to see you two, I’m not leaving forever. I really like it here.” She mumbled, nursing her tea and eagerly waiting to feel its effects.

“I’m just making sure, darling. Oh, and Romah and her employees know about you, as we did have to let them know that you are similar to me, but they’ve treated me plenty of times with the utmost care, so don't expect anything different” Link’s ears dipped nervously as she finished off her tea. “Hey, really. It'll be worth it.” Vilias words were soft, comforting, and Link nodded feeling mostly reassured.

“Let’s go, little vai. I can't bare to look at your poor pained face any longer!” Vilia sharply said, shooting up from her seat and offering a hand to help the Hylian up. 

The three walked into a hot, steaming room. Smouldering coals sat assisting the boiling of woks of water into the damp air. The room had 6 stone beds formed in 120 degree angles, lined with a rug-like fabric, and Vilia and Ashai casually began taking their garments off. Link blushed furiously and backed slightly, feeling bad for looking at her friends while they undressed. “Darling, we’re all vai, there's nothing to be afraid of, okay?”

The three sat in the reclined beds, covered in towels, and Link could already feel her face begin to tingle in the humid room. A short haired Gerudo woman of average height Link recognized to be the owner of hotel Oasis entered the room and greeted the three.

“Sav’otta, Vilia! Sav’otta, Ashai! Sav’otta, Link!” She held a large bundle of ointments, creams, and lotions, and walked to the group with a smile on her face.

“Sav’otta Romah!” Ashai spoke, smiling at hearing the hotel owners friendly voice and watching her chipper, animated demeanor. “I'm very honored to be tending to the poor skin of our very own champion vai!” Link blushed, this time being referred to as a champion wasn't such a bad feeling. Romah looked to Links sun beaten, blushy face, and clicked loudly. “Mmm, she's not beyond help. You’ll be feeling better than you ever have by the time we’re finished. I promise!” 

Romah huffed, putting her hands on her hips as if pumping herself up to begin, and opened a small jar, gently rubbing a cool, moisturizing cream from it onto Link’s aching face. An initial sting hit the Hylian, and subsided into a calming, coconut scented numbness. The next hour consisted of the same, different parts of her skin being treated with different salves, scrubs, and poultices, all while the hot coals of the room kept steam circulating throughout her pores. Romah then moved to the others, and Link found herself in complete contentment, the feeling of the thin layers of medicine that covered her body seemed to gently usher out all of her pain. “How is it, darling?” Vilia cooed.

“So good.” she squeaked, her skin feeling like she had never been injured in her life. 

After Link had a chance to rest a small while, floating in a blissful, tingly meditation, Romah walked over to Link’s bed and nudged her a bit, getting her attention. Link blinked her eyes open, looking to Romah holding a wire basket filled with different colors of jars. “Pick a color, little vai.” Link blushed, knowing what the jars were for. She pointed confidently at a bright blue color, and Romah’s eyebrows raised. “Good choice, it matches your eyes.” 

She set the basket of assorted paints beside her, and sat comfortably on a cushy pillow.

“Here, sweetie” She motioned for Link’s hand, and began filing her nails gently, followed by pushing her cuticles back, and finally applying several layers of the vibrant, glossy blue paint on her nails. “Don’t move too much, we need to let it dry, okay?” Link nodded, smiling at Romah while Ashai and Vilia seemed to be lazily chatting, half asleep and letting their bodies relax.

While the other hand was being painted, Link carefully brought the treated one up to her face. The red dryness in her hand was fading, and her nails almost seemed to glow a bright blue that complimented her fair skin. She flushed as her expression lit up, happy that she was finally starting to look how she felt she should.

"You have that look. I know that look." Ashai said, her dark brown skin glistening in the light of the sauna. Link's ears twitched in curiosity at the contented Gerudo.

"Vilia had that look,-"

"Hm?" Vilia interrupted, in a daze from being half asleep.

"Oh, I was telling Link of when I brought you the bag" Vilia's sleepy eyes lit up with recognition, and they smiled brightly at their lover.

"The bag, you did bring me the bag. Goddess I love you, you've always been too sweet to me." Ashai laughed, playfully and lovingly responding.

"I love you too, let me tell the story you little shrew." 

"Years ago, I was helping my mother teach cooking classes to the voe in Kara Kara. I do this very sparsely, once or twice a year for single fathers, and anyone else who wishes to learn, really. I saw them in the crowd, the only one my age there, watching the class," she glanced over at Vilia, "and _me_ with such intensity. After the lesson they approached me, they asked me about how the Gerudo do such eye catching makeup, they asked about the clothes the Gerudo wore. They asked so many questions, but none of them were about the cooking lesson."

"Some teacher you are, hmm?" Vilia teased, and Ashai pinched her partner playfully, and continued.

"I found myself just as entranced in them as they of me. Vilia was hurt, outcast and alone. I brought them the bag, which was _so_ many types of makeup my mother understandably berated me for 'losing', and a Gerudo set in Vilia's size. It was the happiest moment of my life to watch them try it on. I'll never forget the look on their face when I told them they could come to Gerudo town in that outfit to language and cooking classes."

Both Link and Vilia watched Ashai, listening to her story with tears in their eyes.

"I just felt I wanted to get closer to you. You know how much I wanted to speak the Gerudo language, all those frustrated nights of me wanting to get pronunciations right?" Ashai smiled, her eyes wandering to the ceiling and she laughed in surprise, as if remembering something.

"Yes! Like the time you accidentally told my grandmother to go soak herself!" Vilia blushed, a look of mock frustration and underlying sassiness in her face.

"Goddess please don't remind me, the look on her face broke my heart!" 

They both held each other's hands, and the warmth of their shared memories was felt in their abrupt laughter. 

"All I can say, little vai, is that its very easy to tell how much this means to you, and im very, very honored to be here with you in celebration."

"Me too, you beautiful Hylian!~" Vilia cooed from the seat over, craning their head to look at the blonde, eyes still puffy from Ashai's story. 

Romah stood up, collecting their things and spoke,

"Thank you all for sticking around with me, I believe the spa treatment is completed! Enjoy the rejuvenated skin!" She waved and walked out of the doorway, her bundle of magic feeling lotions and salves held in one arm.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing you off then, won't we darling?" Link's ears drooped, her expression showing optimism, with a pang of sorrow. 

"Are you sure that's everything?" Vilia asked, as the three of the vai stood outside the gate of Gerudo town. Link nodded, and a moment of silence caught the three in a depressing pause, before Link rushed to hug the two. "Thank you both so much. I'll be back to visit soon." "You better you little mouse!"

"I look forward to talking your ear off someday soon, darling!" Link began walking away, before turning around and yelling "sav’orq!" to her new friends.

"Hey, that wasn't bad pronunciation, Link!" Ashai laughed, and Link began her trek towards the next divine beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like Link getting to have gender euphoric fluff time with her friends. I wanna do WAY more of that in the future.


	5. Fancy meeting you here!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link needs advice on where to go next, and the only person that she can trust to do that is the elder of Kakariko Village.

A hollow feeling in her chest lingered, yet having a place she felt she could call home, or something close to it, drove her steps to continue onward. Clichéd as it may be, having something to fight for was just as important as fighting itself, and she had more than enough purpose, especially now, to assure her own footing. As she walked along the desert path, she hummed, talked, sang melodies that came to her, anything to continue working on her own voice where no one would be around to hear. Her voice strained, and eventually began to ache with the excessive use. She would have plenty of time walking the roads of Hyrule to continue working on it.

Link passed by the Gerudo stable, holding her Sheikah slate close to her face, pouting and half drifting in thought of how to approach the next destination.

“Maybe Impa would have a better idea of what the Lanyru beast is like” She quietly mused, trying to keep her thoughts verbal when she had the chance.

 _Oh yeah, Kakariko._ Her eyebrows furrowed up, she remembered storming out of the village, in such a panic that even now the memory of it happening is so, so blurry. She poked the little icon of Kakariko to set a tiny, red map marker; a feature she had figured out days ago by frustratingly trying to make the screen shift to the weather portion of the slate, accidentally littering random spots with colorful little squares all over the Hyrule map. She knew that she’d be more nervous showing up in the little town by the time she got there, given her new appearance and the nature of her last departure, but for now, in the snug trail of the Gerudo canyon, she was just excited to see friendly faces again. 

Night began teasing itself past the intimidatingly tall rock walls of the canyon, and she felt her legs begin to burn from walking. She glanced down at her Shiekah slate as she turned a corner, and found herself near Gerudo canyon pass, the steep drop and the rickety wood that made up the Diggdogg suspension bridge lay ahead of her. A group of Bokoblins had set themselves up where the last sentries patrolled near the bridge, the black and red smoke of Ganon’s corruption lined their eyes, ready to lunge at anything nearby.

Link saw this as a beautiful opportunity to both use her crossbow, and secure a place to sleep in the process. Finding a relatively shady half-dead hedge near the grass, and pulling back the string and setting a bolt firmly in the center of the weapon, she took aim at the group. Link set her sights on a frothing, raving Bokoblin whose limbs lolled from side to side, and fired, the fiend puffing into a veil of purplish smoke.

Bokoblins, Moblins, and Lizalfos alike seemed to be fairly native to places surrounding Hyrule, but as of the Calamity, they began acting strangely, barbarously, and territorially. In the small Hylians travels, eavesdropping on traders and hunters alike brought Link to believe that these may not even _be_ the normally neutral Bokoblins themselves, merely vestiges of ones that have died, or even perhaps small, unfortunate vessels that carry out Ganon’s wrath.

Loading another bolt, she heard the remaining two Bokoblins begin to stir and panic, grasping for their weapons and frantically looking in every direction. It was disturbing, how their bodies seemed to move as if being pulled outside of their own instinct. She pulled the string back, and sent a bolt whizzing through the air.

It met with another Bokoblins head, and it puffed into another cloud of dust. Getting out of the bush, she unsheathed the blade of the Eight and put her crossbow to her back approaching the last Bokoblin in confident strides, who squealed and pointed at the girl. The fiend ran, stumbling with a hastily carved club in its hands, and Link sidestepped its overly telegraphed attack, and cleanly sliced the Bokoblin in half, its husk-like body disappearing in a cloud. 

She slid the scimitar back into its sheath, and plopped down at the fire the Bokoblins had set their camp around. The air had gotten cold in the night, and the rushing of the water moving under Diggdogg bridge was a familiar, welcoming sound she felt she hadn't heard in months.

Crickets began to chirrup, and sunset fireflies danced around the half dead trees near the canyons opening as Link applied her treatment, and tried her best to make the gross animal pelt that lay in the Bokoblin encampment feel like a bed. The soft beds of hotel Oasis truly spoiled her, the memory foam-like mattress and the cool, silky sheets that she took for granted were a far cry from the soggy unidentifiable animal fur she laid her delicate body on.

All of that luxury simply felt wasted though, if she didn't have anything to wrap her arms around while she slept. The clunky bag she had on her back was no pillow, but it had to do, Link paying mind to hold the lucky totem that dangled from it in her palm as she drifted into twilight. 

Link yawned loudly as the morning light filtered through the bushy Hylian oak trees, cracking the blueish tint that lay on the horizon with a light yellow glow. She lazily held a stick that punctured a bundle of mushrooms up to the reignited Bokoblin campfire, and cringed through the burnt, unsavory flavors.

 _I deserve better than this,_ she laughed dryly to herself, as if sleeping on the ground was something she could stomach, but plain, dirty mushrooms were just not good enough for her now uppity palate. She had been treated to high quality Gerudo cuisine, she had felt the love that was put into every bite, and this wasn't enough. She pulled out the card that was given to her by Ashai, both chewing on the bland mushrooms, and reviewing what the recipe called for for future reference. 

She noticed the corner of the card had two indents in it, and it not only opened to the one, but three different Hylian translations of recipes. “Gerudo Meat Curry”, “Butter Chicken and Rice”, and “Fried Dusted Jelly Bread Orbs”. Link laughed abruptly at the translation, thinking about Vilia actually writing that was sending her into hysterics. Link happily put the recipes back in her bag, hoping that she’d come across some ingredients on her way.

She walked past the rickety Diggdogg bridge, and the feeling of the solid dirt road beneath her feet was a comforting one. She picked various fruits and ingredients on the way to Kakariko, all while humming and talking to herself, hoping that by the time she was there she’d have the ingredients necessary to cook something she’d _like_ for dinner. 

Keeping a keen eye out for things to cook with was almost like a game to the Hylian, her eyes darting from left to right on the trail ahead as she walked, occasionally stopping to pick a nice looking apple, a ripe looking wildberry, an abandoned comb of honey hanging from a tree near the forest of time.

Her eyes drifted to someone familiar in her search, wearing a beetle shaped backpack and sitting comfortably in the shaded area between the two gigantic mountains that made up dueling peaks. “Hello there stranger, I don't believe we’ve met!” Link looked around to see who Beedle was referring to, until she remembered that she must look much different from what he remembers of her.

Nonetheless, feeling so much more comfortable with herself now, she felt as though it _was_ like meeting him for the first time. 

The tips of her ears flushed red, and she pulled down the bandana that she wore around her face.

“Hi Beedle”, she spoke quietly and waved a freshly manicured hand at the trader, nervous as to how he’d react.

“Oh?! L-” his chipper, energetic voice wavered in confusion for a moment before he regained all of his confidence again. “Hello Link! Sorry, I almost didn't recognize you! Are you headed to the stables?” Link felt more confident in her voice, she didn't feel as though she was going to get kicked out of any village for continuing to practice her voice with actual people, so she began.

“Yep, I'm going to Kakariko, isn't it a bit late for trading tonight, Beedle?”

His expression flashed with surprise, he just assumed her to be a mute when they first met, well, and a _he._

“Well you just caught me packing up to continue on, actually! May I join you?”

“Of course.” She slid her bandana back up around her mouth and they began walking the trail side by side. “How have you been, Beedle?” She piped up, happily yet nervously using her voice.

“I've been dandy! I've been making my rounds from Kakariko, to Hateno, to Lakeside! Though, I feel like I should expand my business further, sell in different regions, ya’know?” Link put a finger to her chin and thought for a moment.

“Go to Kara Kara Bazaar in Gerudo, they get more customers than the traders can handle there.” Beedle perked up.

“Oh, I’ve never been that way! I’ll have to write that in my notes” Beedle grabbed a small notepad from his pocket and began scribbling in it. “You were in Gerudo, yeah?” Link nodded. “Wow! What’s it like?” Beedle looked at her with curiosity, and the blonde smiled and responded.

“It’s wonderful, but I hope you can handle the heat.”

Beedle laughed before nearly yelling.

“Have you _seen_ my shirt, Link!" He wiggled his arms in the air, "I'm practically half naked! Breezy is my middle name!” 

She snorted in laughter, which made Beedle grin with a smile of contentment.

“Speaking of trading." Link began. "Do you have any flour?” Beedle’s eyes lit up, as if saying literally anything would make the man happy.

“Yes! I do! Are you cooking something specific?” Link thought to what the card translation said, and couldn't think of any better way to word it than what it had read in broken Hylian.

“F-...Fried dusted jelly bread orbs” She let out another laugh at Beedles dumbfounded expression, and he began cracking up too.

“Wh-” he wheezed, “What on earth is that?” She produced the card and showed it to the freckled trader. He took the card with care, and mulled over the ingredients. “Yeah, I have most of the things on here!" He stifled another laugh, "Flour, butter, eggs, salt, aaand sugar!” Link’s ears perked up, happy that she might be able to cook something tasty tonight.

Beedle plopped down in Dueling peak stables, pulling several bags out of his beetle shaped bag, and began sorting some of their contents into jars. Link watched her favorite trader work.

“It was really nice catching up with you, Beedle." Beedle beamed while divvying up the sugars and eggs and looked up with a smile

“It was nice hearing you talk, Link! I was starting to feel like I’d never see you again!” Link felt the tips of her ears blush as she was handed a full white paper bag full of her ingredients. “I hope to see you again soon, Link!”

“Bye, Beedle!” she squeaked, speaking as loudly as her voice could let her to match his enthusiasm.

She walked below the large arches that signified her entrance into Kakariko, sleepily eating an apple because she was _too_ tired to cook anything that night.

Link immediately felt nervous, her surroundings reminding her of running away from the first friend she felt like she had made. Once again, the night was quiet, the sunset fireflies swarmed the beautiful town wrapped in twilight, and just as last time, no one was awake. Hopefully soon, she wouldn't be either. She meandered her way over to the inn, sliding its door open sleepily and walked to the front counter. 

Apparently, truly _everyone_ in the town was sleeping, because the person manning the desk was as well. He was a tall Shiekah man, snoring quietly as he sat upright in his chair. “How…is he doing that _?”_ Link muttered under her breath, pondering a way to wake him without seeming too rude. She knocked on the counter softly, and he startled awake, looking to meet her apologetic gaze.

“What in Hylia…” he mumbled, his eyes appearing heavy. “WelcometotheShuteyeInnwouldy…” he dozed back asleep, returning to his snoring, unmoving state. She knocked on the table again, and he quickly responded. "You like a soft or normal bed tonight?”

“Ah, soft.” She immediately replied, knowing he was going to fall asleep again.

“Thatllbefortyrupeespleas.”

She gently placed forty rupees behind the counter, and quietly moved to the soft bed room, trying her best not to wake him again.

A thick, fluffy futon mattress lay in a nearly empty room. Long, stark white scrolls and dim paper lanterns had hand-painted traditional Shiekah calligraphy lined across them on the walls. It was cozy. A minimalist, snuggly room. She plopped her bag on the ground, undressing and applying her lotion, and folded herself up in the futon, pulling a pillow to hold close to her, enjoying the cool feeling of the sheets against her warm body, and fell asleep to the sound of crickets. 

The early morning held few people outside of it, the only really awake being the two older Shiekah men who guarded the entrance to the largest building in the town, Impa’s temple. Approaching the two, the half awake Hylian was afraid they wouldn't let her in.

“Halt! You dare set foot near the elder lady Im-” Link flinched, and timidly yet quickly held up her Sheikah slate, its blue and orange lights glowing in the shape of the Shiekah eye.

“Link? The champion?” She nodded, happy she was hiding most of her upset expression behind her bandana. He looked at her with surprise. “Ri..right this way si- ma’a- right this way.” Link cringed at his stuttering, but assumed she might be getting a bit of that now that she was somewhere where people knew her as the once esteemed _male_ hero of legend.

She walked up the wooden steps to Impa’s home, and the cool morning light was accompanied with the sounds of the rushing waterfalls that ran behind the temple. Sliding the door slowly open, she was greeted by an already smiling Impa, sitting on her pillow with a cup of tea in her small hands. Link smiled nervously, hoping the woman wouldn't berate her, or worse, kick her out for her appearance.

The silence between the two grew, just as Link’s spirits began to fall.

Two seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

After a long pause, Impa finally spoke up.

“You look happier, dear.” Link’s heart swelled with joy and relief as she pulled her bandana down to her neck.

“Thank you, lady Impa.” Smiling and bowing in respect of the elder.

“Come, sit.” She motioned to a flat, red pillow with white adornments sewn across its fabric sitting in the middle of the room, and Link sat cross legged and looked to the Shiekah. “The beam, the one that faces the royal castle from the southwest.”She looked excitedly at the Hylian, and Link perked up at her words. “That was you, yes?” Link nodded. “Oh, where are my manners. Would you like some tea, dearest?”

“I would love some.” Impa nodded, and drew in a large breath. “Paya, could you please bring another cup of tea down here? Our favorite champion is back!” 

The sound of a glass breaking was immediately heard from upstairs, and an annoyed sigh was followed quickly by who Link could assume was Paya.

“Are you alright, dear?” Impa spoke in a worried, but somewhat amused and lighthearted tone at her granddaughters clumsiness.

“I-I broke a plate! It wasn't anything expensive but im sorry anyway! I’ll get the tea in a second!” The sound of dusting and the jingling of broken glass being gathered into a dustpan was heard from above. “It’s okay, dear. Even if it was, i'm glad you aren't hurt.” Impa stifled a laugh, and turned back to the Hylian. “You know, you look just as pretty as Zelda herself.” 

Link blushed and tried to hide her face from the elder, feeling unworthy of her praise.

“Thank you,” was all she could say, her painted hand covering her mouth shyly. Paya slowly thumped down the stairs, paying mind not to drop the hot tea she held in her hands. She moved her gaze from the wobbly tea to Link, and her eyes widened.

“Here you go, L-Link!” Blushing and looking away from the Hylian. Impa spoke, “Thank you, Paya. You may go if you wish.” “I-I’ve never heard you talk before! I heard you from upstairs and.. I like your v-voice!” Link smiled, her nervousness was sort of charming in its own way.

“I like yours, too.” Link awkwardly said to the anxious girl.

Link sipped on the strong, bitter black tea in her lap, and looked to the elder. “So as I was saying, the taming of Vah Naboris has taken the village, and inhabitants of Hyrule at large by storm! Traveling merchants here recently saying it was a Hylian girl who rode in and wrangled the beast herself!” Link smiled furiously at that news. “I thought maybe someone besides you had done it, but now that you’re here I can see that you were the mysterious Hylian girl all along!” Impa laughed, her wrinkles seemed to smile along with her. Link piped up.

“I have, and I'm here to learn about the one in Lanyru.”

“Oooh” Impa looked to the ground in thought. “Princess Mipha.” She looked distraught, as if remembering things that troubled her. Talking about the beasts themselves seemed to be no issue for the elder, yet recalling the horrors of the Calamity looked just as painful as the day the Calamity began. 

“The Divine Beast Vah Ruta.” She spoke as if she were reading its name from a book. “It resembles an elephant, and as I recall, it was submerged in the East Reservoir.” She tentatively took a sip from her tea. “The other two are too dangerous for me to visit right now, right?”,

Link asked. “Well, unless you can fly or catch fire without burning to a crisp” Impa dryly laughed. “Fireproof potions do exist, but…” She paused and shifted in her pillowy seat, “It might take some creativity to ground Vah Medoh from where it soars.”

“Let me see your slate, dear.” She held out her hand, and Link moved to place the slate into her small palm. “Do you see, here?” She pointed an old, wrinkled finger at a large patch of wetland just north of Kakariko. “This flood of wetlands begins at East Reservoir, it has a great deal to do with the recent migration of Freshwater Lizalfos surrounding the Zora domain.” Impa suddenly wore a look of guilt.

“In short, not only are the Zora trapped in their own domain, but the threat of the reservoir breaking holds threat to the entire east area of Hyrule itself.” Link looked at the sadness that was written in Impas eyes, and she offered her hand for the elder to grab onto. “Thank you, dear. The Shiekah people created Vah Ruta not only as the Divine beast to be piloted by the Zora champion, but we think they did it as a peace offering, because it creates a steady supply of fresh water for the Zora people. By this map, it seems that Ganon is using that good will against all of Hyrule.” 

“I think you can go through the wetlands and take the old route up to the Zora’s domain, that would be your best way inside. But, no one has done so in a long, long time.” Link held a finger to her lips, biting nervously at the inside of her cheek and spoke.

“Are the Zora nice?” Impa smiled warmly at the girl, not forgetting that she had lost her memory.

“Oh, of course! They’re very reclusive, and sometimes they can get lost in their own traditions, but they’re a nice people. Here, sweetie.” She handed the slate back to Link and they continued sipping their tea, and talking of Link’s adventures in Gerudo.

Link bid the elder farewell, sliding the door open into the welcoming, crisp morning air, and felt a pang of hunger. “I’m gonna make bread orbs.” She giggled to herself, and began down the stairs to the cooking pot. She half expected Hana to be there, and she didn't know whether she liked the idea of seeing her, or was more afraid that Hana didn't want to see her at all.

She sat on the hard stump that was near the wok, and began sorting her ingredients, looking to her recipe card hastily written in Hylian. The card smelled like Gerudo town, and it made her feel a sting of sadness, hoping her friends were doing okay. She read the instructions, and began kneading together sections of the dough and simmering chopped fruit and honey to a sweet, tangy, gooey consistency.

It was messy, the flour threatening to cover her shirt and the sticky preserves nearly about to glue her hands together, but she simmered the jelly enough to cover the back of a spoon, and begin filling the buttery dough that she had kneaded into sloppy, yet passable balls filled with the mixture.

As she heated a heavy chunk of lard in the wok, she heard a nearby door shut in one of the buildings of the village. A sharp, small, high pitched gasp rose above the popping of the frying dough balls, and Link soon saw Hana running directly at her, impacting her with a surprisingly forceful hug.

“You’re back.” she sadly sniffled into Link’s jacket, tearing up immediately and mumbling near-incoherent “I'm sorry"s to the Hylian.

“Don’t be” Link began to console her in the most motherly tone she could manage before tearing up, herself. “There's nothing to be sorry for, Hana.”

“Oh! What! You’re talking!” She mumbled into Links shirt, still half-sobbing. She pulled back and looked at the Hylian.

“You’re talking and you’re really, really pretty!!” She beamed at Link with snot coming out of her nose.

“I won't leave like that again, okay? Next time i'll say goodbye at least.” Hana sniffled before laughing, and looked over at the floury, messy table that was next to the sizzling wok.

“What's for breakfast?” Link thought for a moment, unsure of exactly what to call them before simply titling them

“Fruit and honey bread”. Link shifted them with a stick, turning them to their other sides and showing the nicely browned, fried halves of the balls. “Where’d you learn that?! They look so good!” She chirped, the familiar perkiness in her voice beginning to show itself to Link again.

“I got it from Gerudo town, the teacher of the Gerudo cooking class had this recipe translated to Hylian and gave it to me.” Hana looked starry eyed at the food, and dots began connecting themselves in her head.

“WAIT. You’re the champion girl?? You tamed Vah Na...Nab” Link chuckled.

“Naboris.”

“YEAH THAT. How did you do that?!” 

“One second” Link said, before ushering the now done fruit and honey bread from the wok, and into her cleaned bowl, before covering them with sugar. She set them on the table to cool, and walked back to the stump opposite of Hana, pulling her crossbow off her back and setting it on her lap.

“With this.” The golden metal that accented the bows sand colored pristinely smooth wood shined in the morning light. Hana immediately bolted over to look, and the expression of surprise that blanketed her face somehow became even more excited at the woodwork.

“Can I hold it?” She pouted, looking to the Hylian with still watery eyes.

“Don't break it” Link said with a wink, double taking to make sure it wasn't _loaded,_ and handed the fairly lightweight, slender crossbow into the girls arms. 

She huffed, the weight of the crossbow still being a lot for the small girl, and she waddled over to her seat across the wok and examined it further. She ran her fingers across the engravings, the Hylian-esque floral and wind-like patterns carved in the wood with accents of Gerudo-esque dot and star-like flair were like a feast for her eyes. Breaking herself out of the trance she was in, the little girl spoke up to Link.

“So... you just walked up to it with this and killed it?” Hana adjusted her glasses, and Link giggled a bit at the mental image of actually attempting that.

“No, the Gerudo Chief lent me a horse and I shot at it’s hooves with bomb bolts. I also got struck by lightning about seven times.” Her eyes lit up in awe.

“BOMB BOLTS? LIGHTNING?” Link laughed, thinking of how her friends enthusiasm was once overwhelming to her, but now she loved answering her questions.

“Oh, yeah, they’re exactly what they sound like, and yes, the lightning hurt a lot!”

Link offered one of the dough balls to Hana, and grabbed one herself. Link took a cautious, anxious bite, hoping it would taste okay. The two girls looked at each other in shocked amazement. The flaky, buttery crust was complemented by the tangy fruit and the sweetness of the honey. It was the perfect breakfast food. Before they knew it, they had eaten them all. Link filled Hana in on her adventures thus far, how she had tamed Vah Naboris, walked inside of the beast, and met the spirit of Urbosa.

“That’s like...a fantasy story! It’s unreal!” 

“The people in Gerudo are really, really nice. I’d do it again if I had to.” Link fondly stated. Hana adjusted her glasses, before walking over and slumping the crossbow back in Link’s lap.

“Where ya going to next?” She asked, as she walked back to her seat and reached behind her for something. “Lanyru. Lady Impa and I decided im going to tame Vah Ruta.” Hana was looking down at her lap, carving a small object with a shining whittling knife.

“That’s like...the opposite of the desert.” She mumbled, carefully peeling slice of wood from an already thin rod. Link could tell that she was too energetic to pay attention to just one thing at a time, so she continued. “It's supposed to be a _really_ big elephant next to the Zora domain.” 

Hana giggled, but was still intently focused on the thing she was whittling.

“Hana? You okay?” Link cocked her head, and waited for the girl to respond while she rubbed the stick with a piece of sandpaper.

“OKAY. I’m done!” She shot up and walked briskly over to the Hylian. “It’s a bolt! For your crossbow.” Link was shocked at how similar it was to the ones she already owned, although the head of the bolt was crudely made with wood, so it probably wouldn't have too much stopping power. “Shoot it into that tree!” She pointed at a nearby apple tree, bouncing up and down, wanting to see the crossbow in action.

“That tree didn't do anything wrong, Hana.” Hana pouted at the Hylian's dry joke, and she calmly placed the makeshift bolt into her crossbow, and pulled the string back.

Link pressed the release, and the bolt soared over and firmly planted itself into the thick bark of the tree.

“THAT’S SO COOL!” she yelled, her voice cracked, and her hands balled up in fists of excitement. “You definitely made it symmetrical, that was a steady shot!” Link beamed proudly, feeling lucky to have such a talented friend.

"Hey, Link." She looked to the Shiekah girl.

"Hm?" 

"I wanna make stuff for you!" Her glasses threatened to fall off her face, and she readjusted them and continued, "I know my dad is planning on teaching me metal work this week, so..." She trailed off, as if waiting for Link to say something. "Do you know how cool it would be to say I made something the hero girl of Hyrule uses?!" Link snorted a laugh, and shifted in her seat and held out one of her bolts.

"Make me some of these, I may need some when I get back from Lanyru." 

"You'd trust me to do that?!" She beamed at Link.

"Of course, did you _see_ that bolt you just made? That thing could have killed Ganon no problem!" She smiled a cheesy grin at Hana. "Plus, I use your bowl and chopsticks every time I eat. My friends in Gerudo town even said they were nice!" Hana hugged her friend, mumbling a happy, loving "thank you" into her jacket. "I'm looking forward to the best bolts in Hyrule, I know you can do it." Hana squeezed her friend in response. "I think I've gotta get going to Lanayru soon, I really want it to be a two day trip."

"You're gonna go already?!" 

"I'm sorry." She gave her friend a big hug. "I promise ill be back as soon as I can!" Hana pouted, but pulled away and stepped back to let Link get up to go.

"I'll have the bolts done when you get back! And probably something else because this is basically all I do! Byeee!" Link laughed at the girls bluntness, and gave her an equally goofy "byeee!~"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE WRITING REALLY HYPER CHARACTERS LIKE BEEDLE AND HANA ITS FUN.


	6. The Hylian who lived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long and arduous trek arduous trek through to Zora's domain begins!

Link peered down at her map, the orange map marker that Impa had set began at a road near the northeast part of the marshy, intimidating mire of the Lanyru wetlands. Chances are, it hasn't been called the wetlands for very long, as the ruins of a large village long flooded and crumbling still peeked up from the soggy land.

She began her trip to reach the wetlands through a somewhat unorthodox path, down a series of steep, yet manageable rocky cliffs; cutting the time she’d have to travel otherwise by a few days.

As there was no path to truly follow here, the one of least resistance was one she’d have to gauge on her own. She slid herself down, sidestepped and carefully walked down steep ledges to make her way slowly down the barren cliffs, all the while humming and talking to herself and noticing she could keep a fairly feminine tone now without an intense amount of strain.

The morning light cast a shimmering glow across the faraway waters of the surprisingly clear watery mire, and the sandy brown and rough rock of the cliffs began feeling less dangerous, dropping off into something akin to a smooth set of stairs that she was quickly able to hop down from into Lanyru Wetlands proper. Green, vibrant moss and beautiful lush trees contrasted the crystal blue waters. What was once quite obviously a thriving place for people, had now become overgrown with plant life, and by the sound of bugs and the sights of darting darners, insect life as well.

The water was merely boot-deep on the Hylian, yet it was quickly apparent that deeper levels of the lands lay pocketed throughout the trees and ruins of the town, and she could clearly see pockets of higher land that peaked through the water, almost making a makeshift bridge to the beginning of the Zora river. 

As she walked across the damp soil of the wetlands, she noticed the route that led to the Zora river wasn't entirely by accident. Haphazard wooden planks made up sections of bridges that looked nearly too dangerous to walk across, and just as she had noticed this, her ears perked up at a strange, low chittering sound. Link clutched a hand onto her crossbow, slowly and quietly trying her best to load it without making any noise. The chittering slowed and quieted, as if whatever was making the noise was straining its ears at the intruder. As Link locked the string to the catch, the firm click of the bolt setting in the middle of the weapon caused whatever it was to begin moving. From behind a ruined building, a large and gangly green Lizalfos jumped and began running in zigzagged patterns toward the Hylian.

Its body crouched close to the ground as it sprinted and bounced towards its victim in confusing and unpredictable motions. Just as quickly as it began running, it lunged at the Hylian with a grey, metallic object. Barely having any time to react, Link realized she had no room to calculate a shot. She haphazardly released the bolt, and it sunk itself into the chest of the Lizalfos, yet its weapon still held clutched in its hand, and Link took a sizable cut to her arm as the fiend clumsily fell to the ground. 

The first thing she could think about, however, was the cut it made in her jacket. She looked at the Lizalfos, it’s body rising from the ground with the bolt firmly planted in it’s chest, and she dropped her crossbow to the wet soil, and unsheathed the Scimitar of the Eight with a scowl on her face, and she swung the weapon with a clean overhead slice and the beast puffed into a cloud of purple smoke. Link quickly moved herself behind a tree, hoping nothing else was around, as she inspected the damage of the cut to both her and her only jacket. 

The cut to her arm was long, and noticeable. Not entirely terrible or life threatening, yet it required a quick solution to cease the blood flow. She tore a piece of her old tunic off and wrapped the wound, thinking she’d need to get it cleaned later.

The damage to her clothing, however, was fairly large. The careful, red stitching of her jacket on her arm had been flayed wide open across the whole sleeve, and strings of loose fabric fluttered in the wind. Her shoulders slumped in disappointment. “I’ll have to worry about it later” She mumbled to herself, noticing it was about midday, and nighttime in a dangerous place like this was something Link felt she couldn't handle.

She walked slowly across the marsh, following carefully on the rickety bridges that felt as though they would fall at any moment, and listened for any more of the unnerving chittering that signified lizalfos were nearby.

From across a section of land, a separate bridge deviated from the rest of the path, and a dancing group of Lizalfos were set up in a sentry camp. The whole village seemed to be littered with prehistoric looking encampments, messy looking bridges, and rusty weapons that once belonged to unfortunate adventurers. She had seemingly no options, as the idea of them all seeing her at once was a terrifying one, and she would have to get a jump on them with her crossbow.

They were not as thick headed as Bokoblins, however, it looked like they didn’t have full control over themselves either. Ganon’s influence appeared to course through them that was apparent by the puffs of smoke they dissipate into upon death, as well as the unnatural, puppet-like movements they made.

Link hid behind a small, waist high wall of cobblestone, her crossbow loaded and aimed at the constantly-moving Lizalfos, and she sunk her first bolt into the head of the least jittery of the group. A more calculated and lethal shot this time, it’s body immediately erupted into smoke, and the rest quickly readied their weapons and looked near where the bolt originated from.

“They _really_ aren’t as stupid as Bokoblins,” she noticed, quickly reloading her weapon as they began swiftly making their way towards her location with spears in their hands. She figured she had enough time to shoot one more bolt, and attack the last one with her sword.

She quickly sidestepped out of her hiding spot, and shot her next bolt as quickly as she could aim it, making the closest one turn into a cloud of mist, just as she readied herself for the now-running Lizalfos that brandished a spear nearly as long as its own body. Link held herself in a wide stance, waiting for the beast to attempt to stab her with the gigantic weapon. It reared back, pulling the spear with it as far as it could, and Link reacted in kind with a sidestep and stomped the enemies lunging spear into the ground. Although the Lizard-like creatures seemed to not be able to emote much, she could swear it reacted with confusion and anger at her evasion as she swung the blade down to meet the beast, ending it instantly.

She slid the weapon back in its sheath, and hooked her crossbow back on her back, the familiar weight of the two of them feeling like a strange hug. The path ahead looked fairly empty, save for the remnants of Lizalfos activity that was scattered across the wetlands in general. She crossed a few more bridges, paying mind to not fall off of its shoddily crafted planks, and arrived at the mouth of Zora river.

The sight of the trail’s beginning near what the Shiekah slate called Inogo Bridge was a welcome one compared to the desolate and depressing Lanyru Wetlands. She stepped onto the trail and began walking in the light of the sunset, the chill of the night beginning to make the tips of her fingers and ears grow cold, and she buttoned up her jacket for warmth. Similar in style to the large arches that signified the beginning of Kakariko village, a gigantic, shimmering dark blue arch surrounded Inogo bridge, and two tall, cone shaped sentry towers were on either side of it. They didn't appear to hold any sentries, she noticed, as she walked under the tall, marble-like sparkling stone and continued. 

The tight turns of the trail immediately made her feel worried she would be jumped by a group of enemies, and just as she began relying on her hearing to keep track of what's around the corner, rain started to sprinkle the ground below her, quickly crescendoing into a steady downpour. Link grew even colder still, and her clothes began to soak in the unforgiving rain. The Hylian was tired, anxious, and near tears at the painful, chilling rain that battered her thin frame, and she realized it was probably time to find respite. A shallow, uncomfortable looking divet in the rocky wall near the trail looked to provide a minimal amount of cover for her body, and she sadly, reluctantly crouched into it, getting into a fetal position to conserve her warmth. 

She sat for a few moments, the rain ebbing and flowing ever closer, the wind that carried the torrent threatening to bring the icy downpour near her body again. She cowered further and further from it until she was nearly pinned standing against the wall, and decided that being in the crevice wasn't providing her any comfort, and she may have to try and make the entire walk that night.

She heaved herself to her feet, and walked along the trail slowly, keeping as keen of an eye out as she could for enemies, all the while an alarming numbness nipped at the tips of her fingers and toes. The Hylian felt nearly completely debilitated, her vision was shortsighted, and her hearing was muddied by the sound of the rain. Just as a safety measure, she pulled the Blade of the Eight from its holster and kept herself as ready as she could be for oncoming attackers. 

Link walked for what felt like hours, constantly startled by the erratic movement of the nearby bushes in the wind, the flashes of lightning followed by the booming of thunder made her already racing heart jump harder in her chest. A pair of darting, glowing eyes in the distance met hers, and her racing heart sunk in terror as she saw the eyes duck close to the ground and quickly gain toward her position.

She knew what was coming.

She wasn't nearly as prepared as it was.

She saw the glint of its metal blade fall towards her, and her attempt to block its strike failed. The shock of the hit didn't register at first, but she knew it had cut her near her stomach. In retaliation, while the beast was preparing for another strike, she swung confidently in its direction. It jumped away from her as quickly as she could swing, and if by a primal surge of frustration and fear, she dropped the sword and slung her crossbow to her hands and fired, hearing the sound of it expelling into a cloud of smoke. 

Clutching her wound and panting from the clumsy battle, she crouched to strenuously pull back and reload her weapon. Moving at all seemed to sting intensely, and the pain reached a climax as she bent her body to sling the weapon back around and picked up the sword once again, limping in the domain’s direction. She found herself walking across a bridge, panting and holding the exposed cut that felt sickeningly warm in her grip. As soon as she could blink she seemed to have crossed it, and didn't even remember doing so. Whether it was her willpower waning, or the ever-growing icy haze that paralytically hypnotized her, her mind began to drift, and her movements became less choreographed by her and felt more like she was in a drunken autopilot state. Seconds felt like hours, time seeming to tick by in slow, dizzying snapshots that she could only sit and watch. The snapshots flew by her, the sound of thunder, yelling, another sting, and nothing. 

Her eyes darted open, and she instinctively tried readying herself to attack, but found her entire body both in too much pain, and tucked firmly in a sterile smelling bed. The walls were a deep, sparkling blue, not unlike the brilliant sentry posts and looming arch above Inogo bridge, and was adorned with various ocean-like decor. A long, thick poster was lying against the wall with the anatomy of a Zora painted carefully on it, with various tips on how to immediately treat shock wounds. The room smelled... _clean_. That was the only word she could use to describe it. She craned her neck to look at her injury on her arm, only to find a more clean strip of gauze wrapped the wound, replacing her messily torn and sweaty strip of her old tunic.

Tunic.

She's naked. 

Someone saw her. 

_Naked._

She pulled down her sheets to find her chest and stomach also wrapped in the stretchy, red tinted bandage.

_Ohhh jeez someone took off my bra._ Her mind raced, her heart rose in rhythm as quickly as her anxiety did. She looked around the room from where she was for her clothing. There was nothing to be seen. Not even her Shiekah slate was in sight.

_The room is spotless why is it so spotless where are my clothes._

The door to the room slowly opened, and Link immediately threw the blankets over her head in embarrassment.

"Are you awake?" She heard a sharp, low registered accent she couldn't quite pinpoint. It sounded _regal._ It held a politeness, yet it was carried in a careful, hushed tone as to not wake her. She lay silently, and the person just sounded like they were just standing there, tapping their foot on the ground and humming to themselves nervously. She was hoping they would go away, but just as soon as they entered, they walked in and she could hear them sit in a chair in the corner. She laid there for what felt like hours, waiting with bated breath for them to just _leave_ . After a long, probably ten minute silence, Link could hear the stranger yawn, and soon after, heard their breathing slow to a soft snore.

_Did they just fall asleep? Why are they_ **_sleeping_ ** _in here?_ She slowly poked her head out of the soft blankets to see who the stranger was. A intimidatingly tall, bright red Zora lay slouched back in his chair. He was dressed in intricate adornments, medals and ribbons were set where armor plating was lacking, seeming to carry more flash than functionality.

_He looks important_ , she thought, zoning out a bit. _Maybe he knows where my clothes are._ She heard the door open again, and quickly threw the blankets back over her.

"Prince Sidon?" She heard a male voice speak, and the red Zora startled from his sleep.

"Huh? Yes, Bazz, what can I do for you?" He still spoke in a polite, hushed tone.

_This guy is the Zora_ **_Prince?!_** _What's he doing in here?_

"The scouting group is asking to return to where we found the group of Lizalfos, would you like me to accompany them in your stead?" Link could hear the prince chuckle a bit before responding.

"I trust you more than myself, Bazz, but please, do be safe. If you feel something is awry, call for me." He sounded tired, as if he'd fall back asleep at the end of his sentence.

"Thank you, my lord." The door closed once again and the room fell back into silence. 

Link gathered all the courage she could, and before the Prince had a chance to fall back asleep, she poked her head out slightly and met her eyes to him. His pupils were a brilliant light yellow, and his irises were nearly snake-like.

"Where are my clothes?" She mumbled her words through the blankets incoherently, her eyebrows curled in an expression of sternness. The prince was startled, but his expression melted into one of empathy, and he stood up to walk towards the Hylian.

"Hello there! How are you feeling? Are you in too much pain?" He crouched down on one knee near her, giving her enough personal space. His paternal tone was calming, but she was still dead set on getting her belongings back. "Im aware Zora and Hylian physiology are quite different, so the doctor here had to give you an old pre-Calamity recipe for painkillers, I hope it's to your satisfaction. You took quite the lashing out there." He gave the girl a nervous smile, and Link spoke up again

"Can I please have my stuff back?"

"I…" He stumbled at her pleading words. "Your clothes are being washed, and i'm afraid the tightness of your garments could threaten to break your stitches. I'm sorry, if I could, id get them for you right away!" Link stared at the prince, thinking all of it over to herself, face still half hidden from his gaze.

"I might... need a bottle from my bag." She croaked, feeling impolite at the Zora's generosity and empathy, yet she was still so embarrassed about this whole ordeal.

"Of course! Would you like me to bring your bag to you?" "Yes, please" Link whimpered the affirmation to the prince, and he responded with a happy, confident smile. "I'll only be a moment!" He walked out of the room, and Link was left alone with her thoughts again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY thanks for sticking with my story aaaa it makes me really happy. just another shameless self promo, im wontonbutterball on tumblr if anyone wants to talk to me at all about the story or anythin :D also I know its about time for me to add Sidon to the fic, right?


	7. You're quite the person of interest!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link is bedridden, and a prince with a lot of time on his hands sees to it that shes not entirely lonely while she heals!

_Wow, I was so mean,_ the Hylian thought to herself, biting the inside of her cheek anxiously. She might be able to have an actual conversation with him when he comes back, she just hopes he won't be upset at her shortness.

 _He was so...sweet. Is he like that with everyone?_ The door handle rattled slightly, and the tall prince gently walked through the door, clutching her tattered bag.

"Sorry for the wait, your things were being held near collections on the other side of the domain." He politely set her bag near Link, and she spoke up.

"Its okay, I've got time, right?" She shyly smiled up at him, and he met her gaze with an amused, yet sad chuckle.

"I'm afraid so." "Could you hand me one of the bottles in there?" She moved her sights to her bag, and the prince moved down to one knee again, and gently rifled around. He produced her glass, cork stuffed bottle and looked at the Hylian again. "Would you like me to open it for you?" He asked, to which she replied with a short and quiet 'yes please' from under the blankets, and he handed the open bottle to her good arm. "

Could you...maybe look away while I put this on?" He looked quizzically at the Hylian at first, but quickly obliged, turning to face the door. 

"Of course." 

"So...how did you find me?" The Hylian asked, her ears twitching and flattening in reaction to her painful movements to apply her treatment. Sidon laughed dryly.

"You were the one to find us! I was leading a scout group of newer recruits, and you stumbled across towards the bridge we were patrolling being stalked by a sizable group of Lizalfos. I watched one of them get you pretty bad from behind, and you collapsed. I'm sorry I couldn't have stopped it sooner."

Link was in awe, and quickly covered her now treated chest in the blanket.

"You can turn around now." Sidon turned to the girl and took her bottle, fixing the cork back on and setting it in her bag, and got down on one knee to give her his full attention. "You saved my life." Link beamed up at the prince, who cracked a smile and laughed at her kindness.

"Well, as nice as it would be to have that honor, the soldiers who fought alongside me and the doctor who stitched you up might have had a hand in it, too." 

Link noticed his smile, it was a warm, genuine smile. A smile as if he's known her all his life, and it brought her a strange, comforting feeling. "Hey, are you alright?" He snapped her out of her thoughts, and she dumbly moved her gaze to his eyes. "Do you need the doctor?" She shook her head, no, i'll be okay." He nodded at the girl with a look of trust on his face. She decided to ask a question she already knew the answer to, as she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"What's your name?" Without skipping a beat, he drew a small breath and spoke,

"I am Prince Sidon! Son of King Dorephan, heir to the throne of the Zora kingdom and its people!" He flashed a confident grin at the girl, and he quickly asked a question of his own. "And you are?" 

"I'm Link." In an instant, Sidon went from astonished, to confused, to mortified, and he quickly snapped back to his friendly, polite demeanor. “

You were named after the Hylian hero of legend?” Sidon chuckled.

“I think I am the hero of legend.” Link said bluntly, and Sidon’s face contorted into one of bemused disbelief.

“I was put into a big Shiekah regeneration chamber when the calamity happened, and I don't really remember anything before that.” Sidon took a moment to look at the girl, well, the amount of her that was peeking from the bed sheets, anyway, and the cogs began to turn in his mind, but Sidon cleared his throat, and spoke politely.

“I’m quite at a loss for words! You're not perhaps...here to calm Vah Ruta, are you?” He spoke with an inkling of optimism that grew to his face as the Hylian nodded her head yes.

“I've calmed Vah Naboris in the Gerudo desert so far.” Sidon cracked a large smile, and he appeared to had to keep himself from picking the frail girl up and spinning her around at the news.

“That’s so fantastic! You’ve no idea what this means to both myself and my people!” His hands were balled into fists of excitement, and the Hylian smiled weakly at his praise. 

“Do you know when I'll be able to get out of bed?” She mumbled, shifting around uncomfortably and moaning in pain under her breath, to which his excited expression fell slightly.

“If you were a Zora, id probably tell you a week. But, you should be okay to walk in a few days. There’s no way I could ask you to perform such a feat as calming Ruta so quickly, I implore you to stay as long as you like!” Link nodded thoughtfully, and looked at Sidon’s humble, courteous smile, and could only think of how exhausted the man was.

“I really hope i'm not the reason you’re so tired.” This caught the Zora off guard.

“Ah!” He laughed, amusedly. “How could you tell? What gave me away?” Link tried not to crack up, and responded.

“You fell asleep in the chair over there. You snore a little bit.” The Zora princes cheeks flushed a deep, blueish green, and he stifled a noise of playful exasperation.

“I do no such thing! I wasn't even _remotely_ aware that I snore!” She giggled under her blankets, finding herself contagiously grinning at Sidon’s high-spirited charm. “Yes, it's true.” His expression fell back to a warming smirk. “I was supposed to be out with the scouting party for an hour at most, and forgive me but you’re the first... _alive_ Hylian we’ve seen in many, many years. I only saw it fit to make sure you are taken care of personally.” Links ears dipped, and she looked at the Zora with confusion.

“Alive?” The prince recoiled a bit, almost as if he regretted saying anything in the first place. 

“Zora’s domain has quickly become a very dangerous place in the past years. Not even the Zora people themselves can safely leave the domain any longer. Well, you've certainly broken that rule, it seems!.” He flashed a proud smile at the Hylian, his sharp teeth gleaming. Link looked sadly at the princes sleepy eyes, and stopped him before he could begin another sentence.

“I want to keep talking about this, but I also want you to go to sleep if you need to.” Sidon’s shoulders slumped, and Link couldn't tell if it was in appreciation, or disappointment. Aside from Chief Riju, Sidon was the only royalty Link had ever met. Riju was morose, and forthright, yet Sidon had only showed her an earnest, caring attitude. Link had a feeling that if she asked, he’d stay in there for even hours more.

“Are you quite certain? If you-” Link interrupted,

“Yes. Please, get some rest.” Sidon sighed flatly, and he drowsily lifted himself from his crouching position, and looked down at the girl.

“If you insist, friend! A doctor will be in to check on you at about midday, id presume.” He dusted himself off, nodded courteously at the Hylian, and turned to leave. “I look forward to talking to you once more! Farewell!” As the door closed softly, Link could feel a strong wave of exhaustion befall her as she listened to the soft, humming noises of the Luminous stones that were set in the corners of the room, and quickly fell asleep herself.

“Pardon me” she was tapped awake lightly by a black and white Zora, about the same height as herself. He smiled at her, and she blinked the sleep out of her eyes. The man was clutching a silver, matte clipboard in one hand and a long, scaly looking intricate pen in the other. “I’m so sorry to wake you, but I do have some questions regarding your condition.” Link sunk down in the blankets, and blinked her eyes at the Zora. “I’m Norwila, a healer, or rather, just a doctor. The mixture of old and new remedies with potions and _actual_ medicinal treatment sort of blurs the two terms together.” Link stared at the man as he twisted his pen and began writing absentmindedly.

“Now, do you have any allergies?” Link shook her head no, feeling too sleepy and groggy to actually use her voice. “Have you noticed any redness or tenderness near your wounds?” She shook her head again, and the man quickly wrote in his clipboard. “Okay. Are you currently using any other remedies or potions for any reason?” Link gulped, anxiously nodding at the doctor. “If I may ask, what might the remedies be?” She really didn't know how to respond, as _pregnant horse pee lotion_ might not seem like something within the realm of sanity for the doctor.

“Um. I use a lotion for my chest.” He paused, moving the clipboard and looking to the girl again.

“Just lotion? That's all?” She nodded, flinching a bit, hoping her lie was sufficient enough. “Okay, sorry for prodding, it's just been quite a long time since we’ve treated a Hylian, so i'm trying to be thorough.” He hummed quietly for a moment, writing and looking over the girl. “Okay. Thank you for being patient with me here, I only have one more thing to ask of you.” He pulled a thin, glass bottle, and a roll of red tinted gauze from his coat pocket, and set it gently on the ground. “Come night time we should unwrap and pad your wounds with this, and then rewrap them with this. It won't feel pleasant, but it will keep you from getting an infection.” Link nodded, and gave a half-hearted “thank you” to the doctor, hoping that was the end of the conversation. “You can get my attention at any point, just knock on the wall behind you.” She waved at the doctor as he left the room in haste, and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought.

 _How many people have_ ** _died_** _trying to get here? I was so close to being just another dead adventurer at their doorstep._ She kicked herself for being so ill-prepared for the journey, wishing that she could have met the Zora people in a more appropriate, cognizant state. Her mind continued to stray further, as boredom began dulling her thoughts, and a rumble in her stomach tore through the silence in the room.

 _Oh jeez, I'm_ ** _actually_** _starving, aren't I?_ She rested a palm on her bandaged stomach, leisurely running her fingers across her stiff bandages.

She didn't want to impose more than she already felt she was, so she pushed her feelings of hunger down as much as she could. Her mind continued to drift, thinking about the prince and the kindness he’s shown her. She wished she could bend over to grab her Shiekah slate to check the time, but she was afraid she’d hurt herself. She simply huffed in a deflated irritation, and continued to count the silvery, shimmering sparkles that dotted the dark blue and purple ceiling of the domain. She got to forty seven when she heard a familiar, pleasant, yet diplomatic voice talking with someone outside her door, and just like that, she’d lost count. She heard him conversing with what she could assume was her doctor, the wall between her and them mumbling their words, but as she strained her ears, could hear the prince refer to her as she, to which she could hear the doctor respond with a quite succinct, negative reaction. This made her heart both sink, and flutter in kind. Maybe she was hearing things, but the idea of the kind prince defending her over her identity was a very soothing one.

She could hear his footsteps near the door, and she felt a strange, ecstatic feeling swell through her. The door gently opened, and the prince slowly stuck his head through, looking to the Hylian. “Are you hungry?” Link tried to not wildly nod, but by his amused smile, she felt like she wasn't doing a very good job of hiding her starvation.

“I'm going to say several ingredients, and I need you to nod yes or no to each, okay?” She played along with the prince. “Rice.” She nodded. “Salmon.” She doesn't remember what fish tastes like, but she nodded anyway. Link felt like she could eat anything in that moment. “Peppers?” She shook her head in the affirmative once more. “Not a picky eater, I gather!” He pleasantly responded to the Hylian. “I’ll be back momentarily, just hold tight!” He winked at the girl, flashing a large grin, and slowly shut the door again. She laid her head back down, gripping her cool, blue pillow inattentively, restlessly falling back into the fitful, bored stupor she found herself in just moments before. 

Ninety three sparkles.

Ninety four.

One hundred and twenty one. 

She quickly learned that she needed constant stimulus to even function, it seemed. 

The door rattled, and she peeked her head out of her blanket expectantly at her guest.

“Hey there!” The prince was carrying with him in one hand a steaming, white ceramic bowl lined with blue swirling patterns, and in the other, a black leather bag with a large, silver clasp holding it together. “I've brought you salmon fried rice!” Link sat up, sliding her good arm out of her blanket. She _would_ feel embarrassed at showing her whole face, but she was too hungry to care at that point. Sidon gently set the deep, glossy bowl in her lap, she gave a good-natured, yet brisk “thank you”, and dug in as quickly as she could. Sidon pulled a chair closer to the girl, and sat down. “I apologize for being so careless last night, I was so bewildered by your arrival that I hadn’t even thought so much as to ask if you were hungry.” Link pulled herself away from the rather bland, yet adequately filling meal, and countered.

“You were also really tired. I didn't want to put you through anything else.” Sidon furrowed.

“Nonsense, you’re our guest, regardless of what you’ve come here to do, I will see to it that you are comfortable!” Link blushed, imitating an expression of sternness with a mouthful of meat and rice. Sidon seemed to crack up a bit at her reaction, and emphasized his point “Truly. I’m serious! Here, I've brought you something and I hope you don't mind.”

Link’s ears twitched curiously at the prince as he unfastened the silver clasp of the stiff leather bag, and he pulled out her now dry red jacket. It didn't look nearly as dirty as when she had last seen it, and it smelled of a sweet, flowery, honey-like tartness.

“I noticed your jacket was ripped quite badly at the sleeve. With your permission, i'd like to sew it back together for you personally!” Link looked to the cheerful prince in astonishment.

“You’d do that for me?” Sidon chortled.

“With all due respect, it's part of the only set of clothes you brought with you to the domain, and we’ve no Hylian clothing here.” He gently unfolded the jacket and observed the ripped fabric tentatively. "Plus, it's been awhile since I've been able to sew. It's quite a comforting hobby for me." Link zoned out looking at the bed, trying to think of how to repay the glowing kindness that the prince has shown her.

"I'd love that, actually. You have my permission" she smiled at the prince, fully aware she wasn't hiding her less than perfect feeling face behind a stack of blankets any longer.

"Hah! Excellent! Do you mind if we begin now?"

Link looked left and right, confused by what he meant. "If I could, id need to slide the torn sleeve on your unhurt arm so that I may sew it back properly.” Link looked warily at Sidon, yet she felt that she could trust him. “I promise, I've a steady hand." He held up a palm as if swearing by his word, his perfect, sharp teeth gleamed as Link nodded at the prince, and he slid his chair over to her right arm, turned the sleeve inside out, and carefully affixed it to her. He grabbed a needle and a spool of a sturdy looking fabric, nearly the exact same color as her beloved jacket, and smoothly threaded the needle. He rested a hand gently on Link’s sleeve.

“Be sure to tell me if i'm pushing or tugging too hard, okay?” His grasp was firm, yet mindful of her small frame. She watched him work attentively, and seeing him so up close, his expression curled thoroughly in concentration, she found her heart beating abnormally quickly. Normally, she’d chalk the feeling up to anxiety, but this was different, she felt comfort in that moment more than any other emotion. She shook her thoughts aside, and asked the prince a question. 

“Where’d you learn to sew?” His gaze on the red jacket broke for a split second, and he very quickly went back to focusing.

“Well; It’s a little complicated, actually.” He paused to pinch two pieces of fabric together and pulled the needle through, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth in concentration. “My sister used to sew. A _lot._ If she had no meetings to attend, no parties she was reserved in, she was doing some sort of patchwork. Embroidering, quilting, it mattered not. Blankets, gifts, she had many, many projects.” He glanced up to the Hylian quickly, meeting her attentive gaze before looking back at his work. “I looked up to her quite a bit at my young age, I wanted to do everything she did. I followed her around endlessly. I would bang on her door when she wanted to be alone to spend all the time I could by her side. And when she refused to see me, id throw a _fit_.” Link chuckled a little at the mental image of a little Sidon being so obnoxious. “Yes, I was _quite_ the brat.” Link pouted, exhaling a bit at the prince being so self deprecating.

“You looked up to her, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Sidon looked somewhat mournful for a moment, and bounced back to his neutral demeanor. Seeing his shift from the ecstatic, glowing prince to a more toned down, serious person was jarring to Link, but pleasant.

“Well, when the Calamity happened, I, too, sunk myself into the art. I badgered her old handmaidens and teachers to show me how to _truly_ bring fabric to life like she did, and in a rather unhealthy way, I relied heavily on sewing to calm me in my grief when she had passed.” Link looked apologetically at the concentrating prince, wishing she could make him perk up like he did her.

“The way you talk about her, I bet she would be more than proud of you now.” 

He looked mournfully at her jacket, trying to not make eye contact.

“I do hope that is true, my friend.” Link smiled confidently at the prince, as he tied off the last stitch of her jacket, and cut the string from the needle. “There! See? I didnt even so much as lay a scratch on you, madam!” Link’s heart raced, she hadn't been _entirely_ sure what the prince saw her as, but hearing him call her madam was an exceptionally good feeling. “Allow me to take this off for you, hm?” He gestured to slide her jacket sleeve back off, and she held her arm out for him, and he carefully took the inside-out sleeve from her.

“Ah! Don’t look until I give you the go ahead, okay?” Sidon quickly maneuvered the jacket back in its original position for the girl, as she gave an “okay” and covered her eyes, grinning ear-to-ear.

“Ta-da!” Link moved her pale hand from her eyes, and looked at her now perfectly sewn jacket.

“How ...did you do that?” She asked, bewildered, her hand covering her shocked expression. Sidon laughed at her amazement. “No, really! It's like it never got torn in the first place!" She had Sidon beaming with pride, and he responded confidently.

"Well, if you'd prefer, we can both pretend it never did!" Link ran her thumb across where the cut once was, and it felt nearly seamless to her delicate touch. She felt so overcome with emotion, she felt her eyes welling up with tears at Sidon's kindness.

"Hey, are you alright?! Oh, did I miss something?" Sidon urgently questioned the girl, a look of sadness etched on his face. Link wiped her eyes and tried to meet hers to the princes.

"I'm just very happy with how it came out, is all. I have to repay you for this. I want to." Sidon shook his head gently, his expression still showing a hint of worry for the girl.

"I think taming the wild Vah Ruta is more than enough to put me in your debt for several lifetimes, Link." He set his spool back in the leather pouch and clasped the bag together again. Link didn't mean it in that way. She had already been planning on taming Vah Ruta, saving the Zora people goes without saying. she just wanted to repay the Princes kindness. Deep in her thoughts, Link clicked the nails of her thumb and index finger together nervously.

"Do you think you could show me some of what you've sewn some time? Like...some of your personal projects?" 

Sidons eyebrows raised in surprise, and he zoned out for just a moment.

“It’s been quite some time since I've dug any of them out of storage.” He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward to speak more casually. “This may sound dismal, but I actually felt excited seeing your clothing in tatters, I haven't sewn in a good while!” Link looked at her light red jacket, running a finger across its smooth stitching.

“Well, it seems like time doesn't make you rusty.” Sidon smirked at the Hylian, who was now holding her jacket under her arm, trying her best to fight anxiety to keep eye contact with the intimidating, yet gentle prince.

“You’re much too kind. In truth, I would _love_ to show you what works I’ve accumulated over the years. Say, forgive me if-” A brisk set of knocks interrupted Sidon. A polite, yet stern voice was muffled by the sturdy door.

“Prince Sidon, King Dorephan has something of import to discuss.” Sidon furrowed.

“Of course! I'll be there in a moment!” Link hated the idea of being alone again, her ears dipping at the realization. “You’re quite the person of interest, friend!” Link looked quizzically to the Prince, as he pushed himself out of his chair. “I've not yet told them of who you are, as I thought I might leave that up to yourself. They still believe you to simply be the luckiest Hylian to ever walk Din’s soil, making it all the way here.” He casually fixed the large sash he had around his shoulder as he sauntered over towards the door. Link took the time Sidon still had in the room to expound on this idea, as she didn't mind the Zora people knowing a few things. “

You can tell them i'm going to tame Vah Ruta.” Sidon stopped, as if mid thought, and looked to the Hylian.

“Are you certain?” Link wrinkled her nose playfully, giving the prince a look of sarcasm and remarked. “Don't think I can do it?”

“Oh! No, no, of course not! If anybody could tame Vah Ruta, it would be the Hylian that made it to our domain and lived, yet. Hm.” He found himself in a daze again, stuck in his own train of thought. 

“Only if I may tame the beast alongside you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY ive REALLY enjoyed writing these chapters, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them! Remember you can always hit me up at tumblr, my username is wontonbutterball


	8. Octo balloons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Zora prince continues to keep Link company, and even learns a few new things about the Sheikah slate!

Link was more than taken aback by this. She believed him to be charitable, kind, yet to tempt playing the part of a royal martyr was shocking.

“I..” Sidon looked to the door, hearing incoming footsteps followed by a predictable knock against the door once more.

“Yes, i'll be right there! My apologies!” He turned his head to meet his eyes to Link’s, giving her an enthusiastic grin and a small wave. “We shall discuss this later, you should get back to feeling better, friend!” Link waved, giving a quick “goodbye” as he was already halfway out the door, and her eyes drooped to her bedsheets, not looking forward to being alone again.

“ _Blehhhhhhh._ ” She let out a long, miserable groan and shifted her gaze to the floor as the familiar droning silence fell over the room once more.

 _Right. I have to clean my stitches._ She kicked her feet a little in protest, afraid of falling back into the clutches of boredom, and decided to try the most _risky_ maneuver since following the winding path that led to the domain of the Zora. She coerced the corners of the blankets out from under the mattress with a foot, and pouted in concentration as she shifted her body to practically turn her leg into a makeshift crane to grab the bottle of antiseptic.

_“Almost…..allllmost….eeeeh”_

She held the bottle loosely by its neck, straining to keep hold with her toes, and swung the container boldly onto the bed with her. It landed with a muffled thud on her stomach, and she could feel immediate regret with the intense sting of her wound. Regardless of the pain, she threw a small celebration in her head, beginning to coax her gauze unwrapped with her good arm.

Her cuts looked gruesome, specifically the one on her stomach, and the thought of wearing her Gerudo top, or anything revealing her middle for that matter, made her heart tear itself in pieces. She felt as though what once was a flat, pale stomach, will now be made ugly by this... _fissure_ in her skin. She uncorked the bottle, a pungent medicinal odor emitting from the clear liquid, and as she rubbed the solution carefully on her skin, a cacophony of invisible pins stung her in simultaneous, white hot stabs.

She winced, her ears flattening in the pain, and she quickly craned her foot over the edge of the bed once more, and successfully threw the pink, fluffy gauze over to her good arm, hoping the tightness of the bandage would squelch the pain, if only slightly. She managed to wrap the wounds one handed, knowing full well this task was not supposed to be performed by herself, yet she felt she _had_ to, as the idea of anyone but herself seeing her body made her feel uncomfortable. She sank back into the bed, humbled by the cuts that stung more than she had expected from both the cleaning and the movement, but at least she had finished.

In her increasing restlessness, she moved her eyes back to her newly stitched jacket. She pulled it close to her in half-hug, thinking of the princes kindness and inhaling the flowery, fresh scent of whatever it was that was used to clean the garment.

“Why would he help me tame Vah Ruta?” She mumbled to herself in thought, idly studying the contrasting colors of her painted nails grasping her jacket. “He’s so...nice.” Link has definitely seen kindness in her adventures, the overwhelming support and understanding that Vilia had provided, Ashai’s comforting words when she felt unwelcome in Gerudo, Impa’s politeness that she seemed to immediately give to the Hylian upon her return to the village with a completely different identity, yet there was something about the prince’s presence, his generosity, that made her feel... _comforted,_ as it probably did for most of the Zora population. The man had an image to uphold. He was probably known far and wide across the community for being a people pleaser, a whole race of people cornered inside their own domain, and he was their soothing voice, and yet, she still found that she yearned for that comfort in a more personal way.

She could hear, once again, muffled voices between a few Zora, one of which undoubtedly belonged to the prince. His charismatic and proud baritone voice seemed to carry the conversation like a conductor, crescendoing at his unapologetically billowing laugh among the strangers. She found that his joy was contagious, and smiled at the sound of his laugh. She listened to him for awhile longer, hoping he'd come by to visit by the end of his conversation, and as if granting her wish, a light knock rattled the door and Link gave a short, quiet "come in", and the Zora prince made his way inside to meet the girl.

“Hello, friend!” He beamed at the Hylian, moving to rest himself on one knee so she wouldn't have to crane her neck so high to meet the princes gaze. “How are you feeling? Do you need anything?” Link shook her head, simply contented with the princes arrival. “Fantastic!” He noticed the nearly empty bottle of antiseptic near her, and appeared relieved. 

“How did it go? You know, talking about me.” He nervously rocked his jaw from side to side and thought on how to respond.

“Well, it wasn't entirely about you, as it also regarded the rising threat of lizalfos surrounding the domain. You weren't followed by _just_ a few of the creatures, you had tailing on you quite the encampment.” Link perked up,

“So, do you think calming Vah Ruta’s flooding will help stop them?” Sidon rested a hand to his chin, and responded.

“Well, we believe it may. What literature we _do_ have among our archives on the creatures informs us they’re attracted to rainy wetlands, and yet, the books say absolutely _nothing_ of their strange behavior.”

“Like puffing into a giant ball of smoke when they die?” Sidon laughed nervously at the Hylians addition to his thought.

“Yes, exactly like that. It’s quite unsettling, isn't it? As if they’re nothing but inflated octo balloons.” 

“What’s an octo balloon?” Link asked, and Sidon laughed abruptly at her question.

“Oh, by Nayru, you wouldn't remember, would you?” He stifled a laugh, “You know of octorocks, yes?” Link nodded her head, smiling contagiously at the prince. “There’s a little trick you can do with them, mostly done by children, as it has no other practical purpose other than how ridiculous it looks. You can blow into their mouths and they’ll inflate, and if you finagle them _just_ correctly, you can tie them into balloons!” Link giggled, unable to get past the idea of giving mouth to mouth to an Octorock.

“That’s really gross, you blew into their _mouths?”_ Sidon gave Link a playful look of astonishment.

“We were children! My sister and I used to try to keep them bouncing in the air and try to not let them fall in the water when we spent time together!”

At that sentence, Link hesitated. She felt a rushing feeling of recollection, visions of deep blue and purple walls, a red Zora girl that looks suspiciously like Sidon playing the aforementioned game with what looked like a small, cute version of Sidon, his familiar crest bumping a comically inflated octorock into the air with the other Zora. Was this... _Mipha? Why was I there?_ She snapped back from her thoughts, her dazed expression must have confused the prince because he had a brow quirked and was looking at her quizzically.

“Are you alright, friend?” She shook her head slightly, staring at the prince and averting her gaze unknowingly to speak.

“I think I remember that exact thing happening. I don't really know why.” Sidon looked surprised for a moment, not expecting the girl to get her memory back from such an offhand conversation topic. “Did I know you before the Calamity?” He pondered how to respond for a moment.

“Yes, to some extent.” He sighed, reliving memories appeared to be entrancing for the prince, as his tone quieted, and his expression fell to a thoughtful one. “As you may know, you were once the Royal escort to the Princess Zelda.” Link interrupted.

“Do you remember me at all?”

“Well, as you were so silent, the only thing I felt bold enough to do was hide behind my sister and watch you from afar.” Link twitched an ear curiously.

“You’re saying I scared you?” Sidon chuckled warmly.

“I wasn't a very courageous child in the face of any unknown, i'm afraid.” Link frowned, knowing full well why she had been so silent in what felt like her past life. 

“I was very uncomfortable talking at all back then. I still don't like my voice, but I'm getting there.” Sidon smiled warmly at the girl.

“Well, while it may not matter a great deal to your opinion of your own voice, I find it quite pleasant! You certainly deserve to be your own person, and in regards to being the sword of Princess Zelda, I'm well aware of how suffocating royal affairs can be.” The tips of Link’s ears grew red, not expecting anyone to compliment her voice. She still felt as though it was grating, and she still struggled to fully feel like it was her own.

“So, you really want to help me tame Vah Ruta?” Sidon looked matter-of-factly at the girl, his tone growing to a more somber one.

“Yes. Im sorry our conversation was cut off earlier on the topic, but yes. Forgive me for acting prideful, but the beast-" He hesitated, " _Ganon_ took my sister, and is keeping my people cornered in the domain.” Link pouted.

“I just wouldn't want you getting hurt.” Sidon’s somber expression lightened up slightly at her kind words.

“Ah, I wouldn't want you getting hurt either, friend! To put you in danger over something like this _alone_ would weigh too heavily on my mind. I'd rather it be a two person job, for more reasons than one.” She pouted, mulling over his fairly sane reasoning.

“Do we have a deal, Link?” She didn't like it. It's one thing to provide her with a horse and explosive arrows to tame a beast, but to allow the royal heir to the Zora throne in harm's way was just too risky sounding to her.

“Sure. But you have to promise neither of us get hurt.”

“Hah! You have my word!” He shot his lovely, gleaming smile, and Link couldn't help but smile along with him.

“Could you...hand me the bottle again. Oh! And the black rectangle in the bag, too.” Link mumbled, sinking down in the blankets and looking at the prince.

“That I can!” He reached down and rummaged through her bag, handing her the glass bottle and her slate.

"Thank you, prince." She shook the dense stone and it flicked alive, illuminating her face in a harsh, blue glow, showing a time of 19:36.

"You really do not need to c-" he stopped short, immediately feeling entranced by the device. "What in all that is magic is that?" Link cracked up a bit at his jarring change of tone, as her eyes adjusted to the harsh artificial light of the slate.

"It's called a Sheikah slate. I just sort of had it on me when I woke up. It gives me a full map readout of wherever I am." Sidon stuttered in amazement at the futuristic looking device.

"May I see?" Link nodded and scooched over a little closer to the prince, who was bending his neck to look at the slate alongside Links face. Link dragged her finger across the map, scrolling across the 3-d rendition of Hyrule. "That is simply fascinating. I've read of the Shiekah, as we have their historical records in our archives, but the tomes only go so far back and tell nothing of this. This must be quite the relic! Do you think I may?..." Link smirked at the prince.

"Hold it? Of course." He gently took the slate from the girl, and cupped it in his hands, moving his thumbs across it carefully with sparkles in his eyes. Link moved her hand to uncork her lotion, and gently applied it on her chest under the blankets while the prince was preoccupied. "It's got the map, and if you rub to the left on the screen you get a weather map and the time. That's about it, though." Sidon squinted at the screen, fumbling a bit and suddenly looking awestruck at the slate.

"What?" Link asked as she stuck the cork to her hormone treatment back in the bottle.

"It does more than that, my friend." He moved the screen to the confused Hylian's view and she was met with a mirror image of herself looking back at the screen with a small, square, clear icon on the bottom, with an even smaller, white circle in the top right.

"Wha…" Link wrapped her delicate fingers around the slate, and Sidon released his grip from the device. "How did you do that?!" She exclaimed to the prince, and he held up his hands in his own defense.

"I assure you, I've no idea! I was simply pushing on it in random directions like a fool and that appeared!" She paused, studying her own face in the reflection, noticing her feminine features and blushing red at how differently she sees herself now.

"What do you think happens if we press the white bit in the middle?" Link mumbled, and Sidon craned his head over to look with her, and she tapped the screen with her thumb. The two moved their heads closer together, squinting at the screen as she pressed the button, and a small flash accompanied by a soft click startled them a bit more than they expected. A small, white, blurry icon moved to the bottom right of the screen.

"That was it? It clicks?" Sidon asked, dumbfounded, and Link curiously tapped her thumb to the new flashing icon. They were greeted by the now blown up, somewhat blurry image completely encapsulating their fear, their eyes completely open in shock. The two erupted into laughter, blushing wildly in embarrassment.

"Look! You look so _petrified!"_ Link unapologetically snort laughed, dipping her head down to hide her red face.

" _Me?_ You look like you're being ripped apart!" The prince snorted as well, heaving in laughter and holding his stomach.

"If I don't stop laughing, I might find myself ripped apart in a moment!" Link wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, and pressed the circle on the top left. The camera flipped to show what Link was seeing, rather than showing her a mirror image of herself. She moved the camera to the still laughing, blushing prince, and snapped a picture of him. She turned the slate and shoved the picture to his view.

"This is you! Giggle prince!" He glanced at the picture, double taking at it before cracking up again. "Oh by Hylia I look in hysterics! Let me do one of you, may I?" She handed the prince the slate, trying to look collected and proper to have her likeness taken.

"Oh come now, you look so stoic!" She felt her neutral expression weaken, and it quickly caved and gave way to a smile as she heard the princes voice teasing her. She heard the soft click, and Sidon smiled as he showed her how she looked. "Look at you! What a glowing smile!" She didn't think she was even capable of a smile that stunning, or bright, as if Sidon was able to capture pure happiness in an image. Sidon seemed to have that effect on her, she realized, and she hoped it wouldn't end anytime soon.

"Hey, let's take one together!" Sidon stifled a giggle.

"One where we don't look like we've seen a Lynel, I assume?" She looked about to burst with laughter again.

"Maybe! Yes!" She held the slate in her outstretched arm and took a series of pictures of the both of them smiling and making various goofy faces at the screen. 

Their laughter faded, the myriad of pictures of the two struggling to make the dumbest face now cluttered in the storage of the ancient device.

“You know, it’s really late, I don't want to keep you.” Sidon thought for a moment, his gaze affixed on Links hand grasping the Shiekah slate.

“Are you sure?” He asked curiously, and Link nodded.

“Why are you spending so much time here with me, anyway?” Her ears twitched at Sidon, she was hoping asking that didn't make her seem like she wanted him gone.

“Allow me answer your question with a question. How long can you _really_ listen to the hum of the luminous stones in here in complete silence until you can safely say you’ve gone mad?” She looked at Sidon with pleading dismay, putting her hand to her face and pressing it to her cheek to show her distress

“Oh, it’s _so_ bad.” Sidon chuckled, empathetically pouting at the girl.

“I'm well aware. I’ve become quite numb to it over the years, but I couldn't bear to see you suffer the same fate!”

Link stifled a smile, trying to keep herself serious as she didn't truly believe that to be the answer. 

“But don't you have...political stuff to be in? You’re the Zora prince!” He pressed his lips together at the girl, his eyes breaking from her gaze.

“Well” He paused, rocking his jaw in thought. “That I am, but the Zora people and its politics have grown quite stagnant over the last decade. From one hundred years ago to now, the activity of my people has grown to a complacent, restless decline.” The Hylian felt her eyebrows knit into an expression of empathy, which Sidon caught onto and gave her a gentle smile. “Plus, even if I found myself tangled in royal affairs, id find time for you, our guest! What is a kingdom if not for it’s hospitality to its own visitors?” Link spoke.

“We’ll fix it.” Sidon furrowed, cocking his head at the Hylian.

“I beg pardon?” She beamed a healing, hopeful smile to the prince.

“We’ll tame it together. I know we can fix this.” Sidons slightly morose expression was erased by a look of excitement, grinning broadly at the girl, and balling his hands into fists.

" _That’s_ the spirit! I've no fear, by your side, we will take our victory and raise it amongst newly cleared skies of the Zora people!” Links heart fluttered with elation, and she blushed as she saw the princes spirits rise. “Okay, yes, i'll go. Now, you are okay to walk soon, so If I asked you to accompany me on a tour of the Domain tomorrow morning, would you protest? I wouldn't want you losing your way around the domain!” The Hylian shot up at the opportunity to stretch her legs again.

“Absolutely.” Sidon beamed a gleaming smile at the girl.

“Fantastic! I’ll be sure to bring the rest of your belongings with me along with my arrival!” Sidon moved himself towards the door, his bright smile still shining on his face. “I'll see you tomorrow, friend!” Link nodded.

“Bye!” her gaze to the prince was an adoring one as he shut the door gently, and a silence fell upon the lonely room once more.

Link sighed, a mixture of glee and sadness fell over her, tingling its way down her body as she gripped the shiekah slate in her palm. She slumped under the blankets and contentedly scrolled through the recently taken images, giggling at their dorky expressions, and finding herself stuck on the pictures of the two smiling. She studied his face, her gaze moving across his strong jawline, the bright and beautiful yellow eyes that seemed to glow even brighter when he smiled, the beautiful and vibrant shade of red that covered his body. She found herself frustrated, as the confusion behind the feeling she got when she saw him happy, or him at all for that matter, has only grown stronger the more she looks at him. She shook the slate, causing it to emit a small hum and flick off again. She let out a sigh, narrowing her eyes and staring at the ceiling in confusion, and absentmindedly untucked her pillow from behind her, and wrapped her arm around it, falling gracelessly into a fitful, restless sleep.

She awoke to a soft knock, her body and mind seemed to jolt her briskly from her slumber, and she gave who she presumed to be the prince a groggy “come in.” She was greeted by the rather indifferent expression of Doctor Norwila, gripping a clipboard and walking in, taking no hesitation. Link’s ears dipped a little, as she was certain it would be her newest friend. “Good morning. I hope we’re feeling well, yes?” Link nodded stoically, her bed head sticking in wild directions around her. “I was hoping I could get a look at your stitches, so that I may clear you to be able to leave.” Link's eyes grew wide in fear.

“Have you noticed any abnormal pain compared to yesterday?” She shook her head, her heart racing at the prospect of someone other than her looking at her body. “We should-” He paused, looking at his clipboard and pursing his lips, “be good to go then. If you could, would you mind taking off the sheets so I may unwrap your bandages?” She anxiously moved the sheets off of her body, sitting in an upright position and turning her head away from his gaze, wanting this to be over with as soon as possible. He gripped the adhesive stripped end of the gauze, unwrapping it and pausing to study her injuries. “I believe you’re in good enough shape to be moving again, sir!” He eyed her body, and moved his gaze back to her, and his tone shifted to seem more serious. “You are a perfectly healthy, Hylian man.” Her eyes squeezed shut, and the blow from his comment seemed to hit her like a train. “I believe my job here is done.” He left with a somewhat cold, emotionless “goodbye.” and shut the door behind him. She huffed, moving her head to hold in her hands, and she felt the sting of tears poke her vision, and her chin began to tremble.

She quietly broke into tears, the feeling of emotional hostility felt like a hot pan searing her stomach. She sat in the cushioned bed, sinking back down and pulling her blankets over her chest, heaving sobs and dampening the soft sheets. She cried until her eyes began to hurt, and her mouth felt tacky and dry from anxiety. Another knock shook the door, and Link couldn't bring herself to even give the person the go ahead to come in.

“Hello? Link?” Sidon sounded concerned, yet his familiar voice brought Link a spark of comfort in her blurry anxiety attack. “I’m coming in, so I do hope you’re decent.” Before Link really had a chance to protest, the prince opened the door and walked inside, his eyes knit in an intense expression of concern, and he got on one knee to speak to her. “What happened, are you alright?” Link sniffled, shaking under her blankets, crouching in a fetal position. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Sidon looked at his friend, his expression of concern unwavering, and rested a hand on her back. Link startled at his touch, and the prince retracted his hand in response. Link would have protested, if she had been in a more clear state of mind, but she couldn't find the words for much in that moment.

“Did you-” Link interrupted.

“I had a nightmare.” Sidon gave the girl a sad smile, his lips pressed in worry. “Would you like to talk about it? I have quite the hectic dreams myself, I can understand.” Even if he didn't truly know what was wrong, what had happened was indeed a nightmare for the Hylian, and his caring tone caused her heart to slow from its panicked, furious state.

“I’d rather not talk about it.” Sidon relented, wishing he could help, yet her call to yield was a line he would not cross.

“If you ever do, please, don't be afraid to speak to me of it.” Link sniffled, wishing she had his hand resting on her again. Her puffy, red eyes wandered the room, her mind zoning hazily from topic to topic, and she looked at Sidon's smile through her tears and felt herself giving a half hearted smile back.

“Thank you. You said you have nightmares, too?”

Sidon lightened his look, giving a more polite and relaxed expression.

“Yes, unfortunately. As long as I can remember, Ill occasionally wake up in tears, usually caused by a very recurring nightmare.” Link cocked her head, moving her eyes to his.

“You don't have to tell me either, if you aren't comfortable.” Sidons eyes softened, and his voice kept a low, gentle tone.

“Nonsense, i'm more than happy to share.” Sidon could notice that as he talked about this, the Hylians shoulders gradually relaxed, and her breathing became less erratic. “It usually begins with me in a body of water, trapped in some kind of cage, and both my mother and my sister will be watching me from outside it. Then they both just...swim away, regardless of my protest." Link wiped her snotty nose on the blankets, and Sidon chuckled at the unapologetic nature of the action. "Do you not know your mother?" Sidon frowned, and he looked remorseful.

"No, she died when I was very young. However, I am aware that she was _quite_ the warrior and cunning strategist, and practically tore her way up the Zora guards ranks until she made her stand as the highest ranking officer in our fleet. My father claimed he liked her tenacity, her resolution, and courted her soon thereafter." Link found it in herself to smile.

"You have her spirit, willing to risk yourself to save your people." Sidon smiled, his eyes sparkling with appreciation.

"That...means a great deal to me to hear. Thank you, friend." Link nodded, her eyelids blinking the last of the tears from her eyes.

"I know this is a bad time but. I'm really hungry." Sidon cracked up, and Link smiled back at his contagious joy.

"I've left your clothing and your weapons over on the wall, okay? I'll be right outside waiting for you." The girl nodded, watching the prince walk away and leave the room.


	9. Crab cakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon and Link prepare to tame Vah Ruta, enjoying each others company all throughout. Also, I edited this chapter to make it less blocky!! and more readable!! I hope it worked :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect it to get heavy, but it gets heavy in this one. Thanks for reading, it really means a lot!

Link slowly swung herself out of the bed, trying to be careful, and take things slowly. She stretched her restless legs, and was greeted by her newly cleaned set of clothes. Putting on her bra again felt amazing, her body had missed its welcoming tightness around her for the past few days. She put on the rest of her clothing, until she carefully bent down to the bed, and grabbed the newly stitched red jacket she's been practically cuddling since the day prior. She slid the jacket on, feeling a bit euphoric in her outfit, and more like herself. She affixed her sword to her side, and hooked her crossbow to her back, turning the knob and finally walking out into the domain.

Upon walking out the door, it appeared the Zora people had built a bit more than her previous memory had shown her. The room she was staying in previously was just one of many along a gigantic row of other doors, each had a decal or a sign, some seemed to be shops and others homes. The hallway was built into the wall surrounding the domain in a long, stretching corridor that overlooked the middle main platform and the rest of the domain proper. The air was cool and fresh, and a light drizzle was providing a gentle background noise as the prince looked up and noticed the Hylian.

"Aha! It's so good to see you standing, my friend!" Link tried her best not to stare at her shoes, feeling anxious, as the last time the prince saw her in those clothes, she was collapsed on the ground, bloodied and nearly gone. "You like tea, yes?" Link's ear twitched, giving the Zora a puzzled look.

"How did you know that?" Sidon stifled a laugh.

"I didn't, actually!" Link pouted playfully. 

"Come, let's go, its either I take you to a tea shoppe or we sit and eat in the royal dining area, and I think i'll save you the questions from my father for _just_ a while longer." They walked along the corridor, Link noticed some of the doors having glass windows with Zora in them chatting, a few shops, a small school room, plenty of homes, all while walking on the cool, purple and blue swirling patterns that made up the smooth rock ground beneath their feet.

"I don't remember this part of the domain from what I remembered last night." Sidon perked up.

"Ah, you wouldn't, would you? I would say _this_ is one of the only good things to come out of the Zora people's restlessness and boredom in the past- hmm, about thirty years. Many of our very own talented and dedicated took to studying some of the more ancient Zora building techniques in the archives, and everyone was able to put it into practice!" Link looked astonished at the expanse of the hall, it's ceiling reaching staggering heights. She noticed the way that some of the waterfalls that fell into the beginning of the Zora river at the domain fall right over past the wall and down, spraying back a cool, welcoming mist as they passed them. It was absolutely _gorgeous._

"It's so beautiful here." Sidon grinned proudly at the Hylian.

"I'm honored to hear you say so. To hear someone from outside the domain say such a thing is truly humbling!" Link smirked at the prince, trying not to stare too much at him, and spoke up.

"Most of what I've seen of Hyrule is worse for wear. Gerudo town is almost a ruin, I think it used to be a lot taller. Kakariko is being built as we speak, the effort they're putting into it is astonishing. But this…" Sidon pressed his lips together, thinking on the girl recounting of the state of the rest of the world.

"What you see is the result of an entire race of people going stir crazy, in a very productive way." Sidon winked at the girl, flashing a charming smile, and he paused to fix his sash. "We're here, friend!" 

Sidon pulled the door to the dimly lit cafe and gestured for Link to enter. "After you, ma'am." Link's heart practically flipped itself over at his gesture, and a nagging feeling hoped he wasn't just being overly polite because she wasn't born a girl, as if he felt sorry for her. She smiled genuinely at the Zora, and walked inside. The room was uncharacteristically set apart from the rest of the domain, none of the cool blue and purple material made up the room, even the walls had planks of wood lining them. The majority of the room was made up of woodwork, wooden chairs, wooden tables, all littered around in the warm, cozy cafe. Small, shimmering candles and a few oil lanterns danced light across the room.

“Holy-” A voice shot out across the room, and a short Zora girl was seen waving at them, wearing flour dusted apron with a small kerchief around her neck. “Prince Sidon! I didn't expect us to have a visitor today, let alone a-” She swallowed, “A Hylian. How did you manage that?”

Sidon walked his way to the front counter, ushering Link along with him. “She actually made it herself!” He beamed proudly at the girl, and she darted her eyes nervously.

“I didn’t. I almost died on the way here.” Sidon raised his brows suddenly, smiling nervously at the girls forwardness. “Sidon and a scouting group of other Zora saved me.” Sidon butted in after hearing Link.

“Well, I just want it to be known that she was exceptionally brave and successfully made it to Luto’s crossing, and the credit simply cannot be taken by myself and the scouting party.” The apron wearing Zora quirked an eyebrow at the girl.

“Where’d you learn how to use those weapons? They look pretty scary.” Her eyes studied the intricate sheath of the Blade of the Eight and the golden limbs of the crossbow that jutted out either side of her. Link put a finger to her chin, thinking for a moment.

“I think I just got lucky on my way up here.” The girl hummed and nodded, her eyes still wide in surprise from seeing someone other than a Zora, and Link’s reasoning seemed to suffice, as the answer “ _I don't know”_ didn't sound sane enough for Link to say.

Sidon cleared his throat politely, looking at the blonde haired girl and speaking in his characteristically chipper tone. “What would you like?” Link looked at the little parchment that lay on the counter, examining its small, but quaint list of options. The words “Hateno Huddle” were written in bold calligraphy on the top of the parchment.

“Black tea. And...what are crab cakes?” Sidon squinted, thinking of how to describe them properly.

“Oh Hylia, how do you describe a crab cake. I'm quite certain no one has ever described a crab cake to me, I've just _had_ them. They’re salty and meaty but also have bread..cooked...into them.” Link piped up to save the prince from his continuous failings to describe a food item.

“I'll take some.” Sidon made an audible sigh of relief.

“I'll take a seagrass tea, please.” The girl bounced a bit in affirmation, and nodded.

“Sure thing! I'll bring it to you when everything’s done!” 

The two sat at a small table near the center of the cafe, and Link was surprisingly happy to sit on a flat surface for once in two days. “Why is it so...different in here?” Sidon quirked an eyebrow and smiled.

“As in, why is everything wooden and lit by candlelight?” Link nodded curiously “It's a sort of oasis, I suppose. A chance to feel like we’re somewhere other than the domain. I find it to be quite therapeutic.” That was the answer Link sort of expected, but it still felt slightly depressing hearing it come from Sidon. “I meant to make a point to ask you this yesterday, that sword on your hip is exquisite, is that Gerudo handiwork?” Link looked over at the sheathed sword and nodded. Through all of her altercations, the sheathe and its blade never seemed to tarnish, and its many jewels and intricacies danced brightly in the glow of the nearby lantern light.

“I got it from Lady Riju, the Gerudo chief. It used to belong to Urbosa.” Sidon’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You carry upon your person the blade of Urbosa herself?” Link smiled, taking too much joy in Sidon’s dumbfounded expression.

“It was given to me for taming Vah Naboris.” Sidon stared at the blade, his eyes transfixed by the history behind the weapon.

“That is so interesting” Sidon looked up at Link with a determined sparkle in his eye. “I had learned all about her and the trade routes the Gerudo people used to run along with the Zora people, as it was an integral part of the Hylian trading system. Yet, as time went on, the trade classes soon after became history classes, as the Gerudo shut themselves off slowly from everyone else after the Calamity. Well, as did we, inadvertently.” Link watched the prince talk diligently, nodding her head and watching his eyes as he spoke. She was hoping he didn't think she was strange for being so...interested in everything he said. As in, maybe she was paying _too_ much attention, and seemed to be overbearing, or perhaps she made too much eye contact with him, and made him uncomfortable.

“Link?” The girl snapped her attention to the prince, smiling nervously and feeling the tips of her ears grow warm.

“Hm? Ah, I promise I was listening!” Sidon chuckled, before remembering the state he saw her in this morning, crying and crouched on her bed.

“Did you get enough sleep last night, friend? If you prefer, you can catch up on your sleep before you meet my father.” Link waved her hand and shook her head.

“I slept okay. I'm just spacing out." Link was slightly startled by the clinking of a blue mug on the table in front of her, and a large plate of warm, crispy looking puffs that were set on the table with a _thunk_. The prince smiled at the owner, thanking her warmly as she made her way back to the front desk. Link immediately took to sipping her tea, it's harsh, fruity scent did nothing to calm her still fried nerves from this morning. As she raised a crab cake to her mouth, Sidon seemed to watch her intently. She bit down on the crispy, meaty cake, and her eyes rolled back in delight.

"Hah! You like them!" Her cheeks flushed red as she shifted in her seat and smiled at the princes gaze, still chewing.

"You eat one!" She teased, handing Sidon a cake.

"Only if you're certain." Link nodded, holding the crab cake in her outstretched palm, and Sidon took it gently, Link felt a small jump to her heart rate as the prince touched his hand briefly to hers, and just as earlier, she felt like she wanted more of that comforting touch. She shoved more into her mouth, much to Sidons amusement. He held his hand to his face, trying to hide his laughter as the girl continuously gorged herself on the fried cakes.

As she finished, Link noticed Sidon staring at her sword. absentmindedly sipping his tea. "What's wrong?" Sidon jumped a bit,

"Oh! Nothing, I was just thinking on your travels, the things you must have seen." Link mused, wiping her face with the handkerchief under her plate and spoke up.

"I'm friends with a Gerudo studies teacher in Gerudo town, she's told me that even she doesn't know much of the Zora, even the trade routes." She set the napkin down, and the Zora moved his jaw from side to side in thought.

"Not even solely in regards to relations with Gerudo, it's just about being so out of touch with all of Hyrule, not to mention my own urges to go and explore what has been threatened to be scrubbed from history." Link's eyebrows knit in an expression of concern, and she looked him in the eyes.

"You'll see it. I know you will. Mornings near Hyrule field are so beautiful. Dueling peaks is absolutely gorgeous from any angle." He looked at her with wonder in his eyes.

"Your words mean more than you know, Link. Your arrival has truly set the beginning of a new chapter for my people." He smiled brightly, a familiar, lovely sight the Hylian has realized she'll never get tired of, as she too smiled brightly in return. Link felt as though it set a new chapter for her, too.

“Shall we? Im sure the meeting with my father will be rather short, although it wouldn't surprise me if the elder council wished to pepper you with questions as well, but they're not always assembled to attend impromptu meetings.” He scooted his chair in, and Link nodded, following suit. They stepped back out into the domain, rain was now beating heavily, and dripping water was cascading over the rocky side of the mountain wall overlook into the beginning of Zora river.

“Come! I’m sure my father will be pleased to meet you!” She kept close to the Zora prince amongst the now somewhat busy bustle of Zora walking the large corridor, feeling safe being near him, as her first impressions with other Zora have been somewhat bittersweet. The Zora that noticed the girl seemed to double take, or stare the girl down with skepticism, which made her sink to Sidons side even further.

“Do you know what you plan to tell him?” Link asked, and Sidon looked down to the girl as they walked.

“I do!” His baritone voice cut through the now pouring rain. “I wish to tell him of our plan to tame Vah Ruta, as I must obtain his blessing, if it is alright with you. As well as some debriefings on how we plan to do so.” She nodded, fully accepting of this plan, yet she was still inquisitive.

“And how do we plan to...do so?” Sidon chuckled.

“Well, one of the main reasons we Zora cannot tame the beast, is that a great electrical discharge is needed to cease its errant activity, and the method with which we _need_ to do so is with the use of shock arrows, of which the Zora cannot even attempt to meddle with.” Link perked up at the sound of shock arrows.

“Are shock arrows what I think they are?” Sidon smiled.

“Most likely, yes! We’ll have to go to the archives later to actually make a bundle of them for the excursion.” Link nodded, as they walked across a large, thin bridge leading to the middle of Zora domain. The middle was comprised of a gigantic shell like building, that held the seat of King Dorephan himself. They walked through a small antechamber, that lead to the large sideways dome. King Dorephan was quite whale-like, his chin was wide, facial scars etched him in places from what she could assume were battles, but his expression was a soft, and gentle one. “Father, I have brought our Hylian friend along.” The great kings eyes widened, and he bent his gigantic, lumbering figure over to get a better look at the Hylian.

“So, this is the Hylian who made it to our domain, hm? It’s been so long since we’ve had a visitor.” His voice boomed, bassy and thundering as it barely echoed off of the domain walls. He fell into silence, and his commanding voice began again. “Are you perhaps related to the late champion, Link?” Link swallowed hard, not quite knowing how to respond to the question.

“I _am_ Link.” His expression slowly changed, and he broke into a rumbling, mirthful laugh.

“How do you figure that? This one is named after th-” Sidon interrupted.

“No, father, she’s right. She was put into some kind of ancient Shiekah resurrection chamber after the calamity.” He moved his intense gaze back to the Hylian, and quirked a large eyebrow.

“Hmm. Did it also change her entire gender in the process?” Link cracked up a bit, not expecting such a blunt question from the gruff looking king.

“Father!” Sidon sternly snapped, and Dorephan moved his gaze to his son, putting a hand to his chin.

“What? Considering what other things the Shiekah have built, it doesn't seem completely out of the realm of possibility!” The king sighed at his sons exasperated expression, and Sidon cleared his throat to gather his thoughts once more.

“Both Link and I plan to calm Vah Ruta. Soon.” The king's eyes shot open, and he focused his visibly stressed look on his son.

“You shall do no such thing.”

Sidon sighed, and Link shifted where she stood anxiously at the situation. “Father, how much longer can we live in isolation like this?” His voice began shaking, holding composure as best he could, but waning, as his stance became less ramrod straight and more exasperated and desperate. “How much longer can you sit and listen to the cries of the beast Vah Ruta from your chair? Do you not long for our more extroverted days? Where our people could walk freely amongst the people of Hyrule?” King Dorephan averted his gaze from his son, and stared off into the distance, in a daze. “Father, please. I cannot do this lest I have your blessing.” King Dorephan did not move an inch, his gaze still wandered, and his eyebrows were furrowed in stubbornness. Link’s heart broke for Sidon, she’s never seen him so torn up before. “I cannot live like this any longer, father. I must put a stop to this beast.”

Dorephan snapped, swinging his head to stare fiery daggers into his son's eyes. “ _You mustn't do_ ** _anything_** _.”_ He slammed his hand into the arm of his throne, making a loud bang that made the Hylian jump, and shook the ground beneath her feet. _“I will not have my second child taken by the same beast that took my first, do I make myself clear?”_ Sidon’s hands clenched into fists, his face flushed and his tone shook.

“ _Do_ ** _not_** _forget that I lost my only sister, father!_ _You and I have watched this kingdom fall to RUIN, and_ _we have been witness to the spirit of our people falling to ASH.”_ Link’s hands began to tremble, the tension between the two growing ever higher. The king sat taking long, intense breaths out of his gills, making the decorative curtains near his throne flutter in the wind. “ _This may be our chance, do you not see this?! I cannot see my people suffer in monotony and my sisters memory left uncared for!”_ Sidons voice cracked when mentioning his sister, and King Dorephan straightened himself up in his chair, his breathing still violent, and a scowl pressed in his face. Sidon’s expression sobered, slightly, and his hands unclenched. “Please” The prince paused for a moment, catching his wavering breath. “Listen to our plan. I assure you the danger to the both of us is minimal.” Dorephans scowl moved to the Hylian, and she shrunk under his judgement. “We have what we need to make lightning arrows. The only thing I’d need to do is have Link ride on my back and make sure to be steady for her to make a good shot to paralyze Vah Ruta.” The king slowed his breathing, attempting to compose himself.

“You really think this to be a good idea, don't you?” Sidon perked up, a sad smile stretched across his face.

“Yes. Yes I do. A plan I've had in the back of my head for years, father, and now the opportunity to put it to action is here.” Dorephan’s eyes grew heavy, looking to the marbled floor and offering sorrow filled words.

“You know I love you, Sidon. I forget sometimes that you are not my little bright-eyed minnow any longer, and you’ve grown to become a warrior just as valiant as your mother. I will grant you this blessing, just please, don't get hurt.” Sidon smiled brightly, his eyes glistening at his father's praise.

“Thank you. I love you too, father. I will not let you, or our people down.” Link watched the prince in awe, her heart beating quickly and her eyes watering at his display of passion, and she could only think of how beautiful it was to watch him open up like this. 

“Come, Link.” The Hylian wiped her eyes quickly, and tailed behind the prince as he walked his way out of the chamber. They walked briskly across the bridge, back to the shaded, busy corridor that acted as the life-blood for Zora domain’s active community. “I apologize for the escalation, I did not mean to cause a scene, I’m truly sorry you had to see me that way.” Link frowned, cocking her head at the prince.

“Don't be. I can see that you care so much about this, I don't want you to hold it in, especially not after all you’ve been through.” Sidon looked speechlessly at the girl for a moment, and cracked a smile at her.

“Now is the time to certainly give it our all, isn't it? Thank you once again, Link.” The two stopped at a set of large, intricate coral textured blue doors that stood well above Sidon. “Welcome to the archives, Friend!” He pulled the door open with ease, and they walked into the large, tall room with two walls of bookshelves and multiple stone tables. A large, silver chandelier filled with a gigantic chunk of luminous stone hung from the ceiling, giving everything a slightly bluish tint. Few people were in the room, the only being a group of older Zora who seemed to eye Link down, and a couple in a corner stone booth, cuddled up together, leaning up against a wall reading a book to each other. They walked to the wall not covered in books, which had numerous filing cabinets of what Link could assume were assorted documents. Sidon fished a keyring from a small chain affixed to his sash, and looked to Link, who was looking in awe of two large towering shelves of books lining the walls.

“Impressive, isn't it?” Sidon smiled proudly at the girl. “To think this collection used to be cramped in storage before we had this place built, I’ll never know how they stayed in such good condition over the years. We’ll have to come by here some time and I can actually give you a proper tour, hm?.”

Link looked at Sidon with starry eyes. “I'd love that!” A quick, flashing thought of Sidon and Link reading a book together brought the girls heart rate up. Sidon gestured at something,

“Just over here, if the Zora were actually able to do this safely without running the risk of getting electrocuted, we would have a long time ago.” The prince bent down on one knee and unlocked a blue, rough looking stone container, its silver lock reacting with a thick _click_ in response. The prince produced a few bottles, a deep glass bowl, and an armful of several dusts and liquids in cloudy, dirty vials, and set them down gently on a table. “So, there are a few ways to produce fire arrows, shock arrows, ice arrows.” Link's eyes opened a bit, and she interrupted

“ _I_ _ce_ arrows? _Fire_ arrows?” Sidon nodded eagerly, feeling more than willing to explain to the girl.

“Absolutely! There are several ways to make them. In the past, some relied on more...mystical techniques. Spells, and blessings; an art lost to time as old as the Shiekah people.” Link nodded, listening intently. “But, most modern enchantments are done alchemically, simply through transmutation, which is what we’ll be doing.”

The prince winked at the girl and he thumbed through a small, tattered leaflet of pages and squinted at one. “Ah, here it is!” Link watched the prince, his jaw shifting from side to side as he read, a habit that he appeared to have whenever he was concentrating. Link liked noticing those things he did, the way he stuck his tongue out when he knit, the way he fixes his sash before entering a room, she found his little habits charming. “Okay, I wouldn't put you in danger if I could help it, so you should know that this transmutation can’t be done by me at all, as Zora people cannot get near the liquid that you use to imbue the bolts, but Hylians have no problem doing so.” Link nodded diligently. “All you need to do is mix a few of the liquids that I tell you to, and simply dip the tips of your bolts in the end result!” The girl walked near the table, and set down the black leather pouch that held her bolts, un-clipping the large strap that held them in place.

"Okay, i'm ready!" Link balled up her fists determinedly.

"Wonderful!” He pointed to a few jars, and spoke. “Put equal parts of those two into that empty vial.” She complied, the result changing to a dull, muddy purple.

Sidon nodded. “Hm. Now do two parts each of these two.” He pointed to two of the vials, its contents each comprised of a sparkling dust, and she held them up and gave them both two equal shakes into the bowl, and the solution became clear once more. “That seems right! The last thing is that syrupy mixture over there, just one drop, and we should be able to use it!” She hesitantly held the dropper over the large glass bowl, keeping her body away from the mixture as much as she could. As soon as the drop fell into the clear, shimmering liquid, the air around it sparked and popped loudly, to which Sidon recoiled, and backed up a few steps. “Aha! Ah! _That’s_ why Zora can't do that! My goodness!” He laughed nervously, and Link looked back at him with her hair standing up on end. He cracked up at her goofy appearance, holding his hand that wasn't carrying the leaflet over his mouth. “Oh, dear friend, you uh. You look absolutely _great_!” He chuckled, raising his brow in an amused, worried look.

“Huh?” The Hylian asked innocently, and Sidon shook his hand, repressing some of his giggles.

“Not to worry! The last thing you need to do is dip the tips of your bolts into the mixture, and pull them out gently.” She held a bundle of ten bolts, and submerged them into the bowl, the sparking liquid fizzing violently around the metal, until it suddenly stopped. Sidons tensed body relaxed, and he exhaled in relief. “Okay, now slowly pull them out of the bowl.” Link carefully pulled the bolts out of the mixture, as Sidon recoiled again instinctively, the liquid threatening to spark and fizzle again, until she completely pulled the bolts, the tips now appearing to be a bright yellow color. "Hah! You're a natural alchemist, Link!" Link tentatively put her newly charged bolts into her bag, smiling at the prince with a gleeful admiration. Sidon became somewhat serious, his face becoming stern in an uncharacteristic way. “Link, I need you to open up that functionality I stumbled upon yesterday in your slate, and hand me the device, I need to show you something important.” She sat at the stone table and nervously pulled out her Shiekah slate and shook it, giving him an “okay”, and turning it on to the camera setting before handing it to Sidon.

The prince was clearly trying to keep a straight face, and failing, yet Link was still nervous. Sidon pointed the slate at her, and she heard the familiar click that she could remember from last night. He simply set the slate down in front of her on the table, the screen depicting a staticky, goofy looking, puffy haired Link looking dumbly at the camera, her flushed cheeks complimenting how confused she looked. The two cracked up laughing, and Link immediately tried to pull her hair down to look normal again.

“I can't believe you didn't tell me I looked like that!” She kept trying to pull it down, and finally got it to stay. 

“I’m so sorry, friend!” Sidon heaved, trying to keep his laughter more silent for the people in the library. "You just get so flustered!" He calmed a bit, wiping a tear from his eye. "I do hope you don't think ill of me for picking on you like that." Link giggled, her cheeks have grown sore from how much she's been smiling in the past few days. She shifted in her seat.

"I don't mind it." She mumbled dismissively, giving Sidon a smile. Her heart was telling her she loved when he teased her, she just loved seeing him laugh.


	10. A call to action!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon and Link continue their efforts to prepare to tame Vah Ruta, and it seems that day is fast approaching!

"Let me clean up a bit before we go, friend!” Link rested her head on her palm with her elbow on the desk, watching Sidon as he carefully put away the alchemical solutions. 

"What was that racket, dear prince?" A grating voice belonging to a short, stingray headed wrinkled old Zora was standing next to Link, not paying her any mind. 

"Oh hello, Muzu!" Sidon motioned to the old man. "We were making shock arrows, and this is the Hylian you've heard so much of in the past few days!" The elderly Zora scowled, and Link nervously waved, not bringing her hand above her torso. 

"You made _shock_ arrows? Are you in your right mind, young prince?" Sidon frowned slightly. "I've gotten blessing from my father to finally calm Vah Ruta, Link and I plan to complete the task with the aid of each other." The old man startled, his eyes opening widely from his wrinkled sockets, and he moved a scowl to Link again. 

"He did, now? Link? The... I knew I remembered your face, you're the boy that played the part of Zelda's royal sword." Sidon tensed, noticing Link's shoulders slump. 

"I assure you, _she_ is here of her own volition, and she will play an integral part to calming Vah Ruta. Link is our most treasured friend!" The elders frown deepened, looking Link up and down, studying her. Sidon approached the girl, towering over her like a stalwart shield. 

"My apologies. I shall be going then."

"Not to worry Muzu, I will surely be meeting with the council and my father soon!" his body still tensed until the elder had walked away. 

"Shall we go? I must take you somewhere, if it is alright with you " Link wanted nothing more than to leave, and she quickly nodded. As they walked out into the domain, the rain seemed to be pouring, almost completely muffling the busy corridor.

“I dearly apologize, again. The elder council is somewhat...stubborn, and they are skeptical of most people they aren't aquainted with.” Sidon said sadly, as the two walked past the fairly busy street. 

“It’s okay.” The Hylian responded, and kept her body close to the Zora prince, feeling like everyone’s gaze was on her. They made their way to the far end of the large hallway that hugged the Zora domain, and came upon an opulent door, red furnishings and blue intricacies lined its material. 

“I also apologize for running you around so much today” He said, opening the door in a strong pull and gesturing her inside. “I feel as though I may have rushed you, and for that I hope you can forgive me.” Link spoke immediately, not wanting him to feel badly any longer than he has to as the two walked inside of the dim, barely lit room.

“No, I...like spending time with you. Just because I had a bad start to my day doesn't mean I can't end up having a good day.” Link could see the princes smile, even in the dark room as he tapped a sconce that held a luminous stone, it reacting and glowing brightly. The room was tall, but comparatively smaller than the library. The floor was blanketed with a coarse looking, yet beautiful blue rug, and across the room was another door, next to it was a tall, wooden table with an almost comically large chair next to it. 

“I've very much enjoyed your company too, friend. I hope that any more time we spend together will be not as hectic for you as it has been, this is a very tense time for the Zora people.” He tapped another sconce, and its luminous stone hummed in response, showing light on a smaller, more reasonably sized plain blue door. The rug had several different comfortable looking pillows, and a nicely crafted rocking chair sitting near them. “Welcome to the royal hobby room! Well, our own teachers use them every now and then as well for various school activities.” The prince opened the smaller blue door, which was full of bags and boxes, and stretched to be the size of a large closet. “My father is quite the creative one himself, and usually builds dolls and the occasional stuffed animal for Zora children.” Sidon handed her a little felt stuffed hyrule bass, its stitching wasn't as neat as Sidon’s, but it was pretty nonetheless. “See?”

The prince paused, his form bending back over to look through the messy closet. “Okay, here it actually is, I was beginning to think I’d actually lost it!” He pulled a crude looking burlap bag out of the smaller space, and plopped it on the floor, dust settling from it in the process. “Sit, sit! I must show you this.” Link sat down on one of the fluffy, comfortable pillows that surrounded the rocking chair, and watched the prince as he pulled out a very large, dark blue tapestry from the itchy looking bag. “You asked to see my projects the other night, and so here we are!” 

He unfolded the large sheet to unveil a beautiful, extremely intricate looking art piece. In its stitches depicted a tall, stern, regal looking red Zora woman standing proudly with a silver rapier in her hand, her head fin extremely long and vibrant, and next to her stood a shorter, more angelic red Zora, her hands held to her heart, seeming to glow. Both of the Zora stood with a blue swirling backdrop, and near the edges of the tapestry were gold and black colored, odd looking symbols and designs that seemed to dance together quite fittingly, making the rest of the piece pop in contrast. “This was my project that followed my sisters fall. I may not be as good as she was, but I would hope that this would honor her and my mother quite nicely.” Link stared bright eyed at the stitching, completely enthralled by how talented he was.

“That’s...so beautiful, prince Sidon. I don't even have the words.” She squeezed the bass plushie in her lap, and Sidon smiled brightly, moving his gaze from the tapestry to Link.

“It means so much to hear you say that, Link.” He paused, gently setting the tapestry back in the bag and grabbing another smaller bag, and he sat himself on the nearby rocking chair. “My sister was quite fond of old Zora culture, the unique symbols and decorations they used to use, even their very way of life. Our people don’t seem to pay them any mind, save for a few of our scholars. Our ancestry was very strange compared to our life now, and my sister was positively fascinated by it, so naturally in her footsteps, I followed suit.” He pulled out of the bag a half completed tapestry, blue and white shades depicted a cave looking area with various metal objects and shell-like adornments lining its walls. Link’s eyes widened at the alien looking cavern. 

“What is that?” Sidon smiled warmly, looking fondly at the cloth. 

“Well; first and foremost, it's an abandoned project. I haven't worked on it in what feels like ten years, and that's most likely not an overstatement.” He said this as he picked up a needle from the project, and began to move the yarn attached to it through the tapestry. “Secondly, it depicts what I can assume to be what Zora domains used to look like by way of how they are described in ancient texts. I plan to bring its likeness back in this piece.” Link felt an inkling of familiarity towards the setting, even with how strange the area looked. 

“Why haven't you sewn in so long?” Sidon paused from fiddling with the tapestry, clumsily moving his fingers through the project. 

“You know, that’s a good question. It's possible that I had just grown too depressed to do so. I just sort of...stopped. Many of my people have suffered the same thing as time as gone on.” Links brow furrowed, and she squeezed her hands around the plushie in her lap. “It has been so long since I’ve seen this particular piece, I’ve actually forgotten what direction I was taking the rest of it, I suppose I’ll just have to improvise!” He chuckled as he pulled the slightly curved needle back, before looping it into the piece once more, his tongue poking out slightly in his familiar concentration. ”If I am boring you, please, feel free to let me know. We can do an-” 

Link interrupted, leaning forward slightly at making eye contact with the prince and speaking determinedly.

“No, please. I love this. I could watch you do this for hours.” Link felt it was a privilege to watch the prince do what he loves the most. 

“Don't tempt me, friend! Seeing this piece now, I _could_ go on for hours!” Link smiled, loving the idea of being around the prince for that long. 

“Then we’ll be here a while, won't we?” Sidons lips curled up in a heartwarming smile, his shining, sharp white teeth gleaming in the blue light of the luminous stones, and he returned the Hylians gaze, looking up from his work. “You’re much too kind, Link.” Link scoffed. 

“Me? You’re the one who's been spending all of his time with me!” Sidon idly moved the needle around in his fingers.

“Well, I've quickly come to know that there’s no one I would have rather spent this day with, quite frankly. You’ve rekindled my inspiration to continue my hobby, and for that I cannot thank you enough.” Link’s heart raced, and she once again clutched the soft plushie against her.

“I...I’m honored.” 

Link watched the prince knit in awe, his hands were careful, and moved with purpose in precise motions. As time passed by, Link had moved herself into a more comfortable position, laying over on her side on three pillows she lined up on the ground, and the stress from the day had seemed to melt away watching the prince. The two had fallen into a comfortable, serene silence, Sidon seeming to feel calm doing what he did, and genuinely enjoying Link watching him work. She often found her eyes wandering to the prince’s face, his nearly glowing eyes concentrating deeply on what his hands were doing.

As the Hylian watched the prince, A piercing loud whistle cut through the gigantic door between the royal room and the domain, and Sidon shot up at the noise, breaking the two out of their quiet comfort. Sidon quickly set what he was doing aside.

“What was that?” Sidon quickly responded. 

“That was a call to action, and I'm afraid it requires my full attention.” He quickly got himself up, walking over to the large door near the equally large desk. “One moment.” He entered the room, and the rickety joints of the door squeaked as it shut back closed. Link got on her feet, dusting herself off and nervously waiting for the princes return. She heard a dull _thump_ , and the prince walked back out, now on his hip was a large, silver and blue impressive looking hilt and sheath. 

“Prince Sidon, why do you have that?” Sidon shut the door and frantically glanced to the girl, walking quickly to the one the two entered from, and she followed nervously. 

“I'm afraid there's been an incident with a scouting party. That whistle is only blown when something is awry during patrols. I do not wish for you to be harmed, so please stay here.” This hardly seemed okay to Link. She wanted to help too, but as soon as he finished his sentence, the door was shut behind him. Link hurried over and pushed on the door, and it seemed a bit hard to pull or push on her own, but after a few intense seconds of straining, the door budged and slid forward. 

The air was now cold, the midday sunset had given way to a near complete dark, only made less visible by the pouring rain. Link could see Sidon nowhere, not along the large Zora corridor or the middle of the circular hub that connected to the great Zora bridge. Link began walking at a brisk pace immediately, looking over the edge of the corridor for anything that could alert her of the princes presence, yet she could see nothing. The hylian shivered in the breeze, the mornings and mid days were nice, if a bet too wet, yet the icy night-time winds paired with constant pelting of the rain as she crossed the connecting bridge to the King’s chamber brought back horrific feelings of her collapse only days prior.

As she rounded the side of the chamber, she caught glimpses of yellow, flashing lights in the distance just across the bridge. She began walking faster, the length of the Great Zora Bridge beginning to seem longer and longer. The thought of Sidon being hurt made her ignore her still aching wounds, and she drew her crossbow along with a standard bolt, loading it ahead of time. As she reached the halfway point, she felt her body completely soaked, sapping the heat from her body, yet as she continued, she saw a group of Zora in a line just across the bridge, struggling to fight back a group of Lizalfos.

The large, luminous stone holding lamp posts that were on either side of the Great Zora Bridges entrance were giving her more visibility than she had when she fought the Lizalfos last, and could clearly see the silver weapon wielding Zora scouting party struggling to keep the volatile lightning weapons the enemies had aimed at them. She aimed her bow at an armored Lizalfos, its spear held a large arrowhead with a yellow tint that sparked threateningly among the rain, and the zora it was aimed at was more than terrified, deflecting what they could with a silver and blue shield in one hand, and a pitifully short embellished sword in the other. 

As she touched the release, the Lizalfos exploded into a cloud of smoke without hesitation, and the Zora looked at her surprisingly for a moment, only to continue helping the numerous amounts of Lizalfos that were threatening to break the line of scouts.

She was beginning to see the group of Lizalfos making more daring moves, one smacking a Zora with the business end of a club, bringing him swiftly to stutter back. As she loaded her bolt, she felt she had no time to continue just shooting one at a time, and decided it time to test the tensile strength of her stitching as she unsheathed the Blade of the Eight and swung down furiously on the particularly violent, frothing Lizalfos, and immediately went for another. Her arm quickly became tired, and she grasped the grip with two hands and hastily whacked a third Lizalfos wielding a lightning spear upside its head with the blade. 

Their numbers began to dwindle, the Hylian leading the front as she went for the ones that held shock weapons, allowing the Zora to successfully deal with the ones who held crudely crafted spears and clubs. 

She continued moving, looking for the prince and ignoring the painful ache of her joints in the icy rain and keeping a keen eye out for the glowing eyes of the Lizalfos. What she was met with, instead, was a smaller group of Zora accompanied by a teeth bearing Prince Sidon, holding in his hand the very rapier she saw his mother wielding in the tapestry, its intricacies embellished in the same way as well. The sounds of metal clashing against metal cut through the sound of pouring rain, as lightning sent glimmers of visibility across the trail that lead to the Great Zora Bridge. 

She broke into a full sprint, her legs giving protest in the form of painful muscle spasms, yet she still found the will to drive the Blade of the Eight down on a lightning spear holding lizalfos that was standing far too close to the prince, as its presence sent the girl into a blind fury. She felt resolute, the fate of the Zora people was of great import to her, but the fate of the kind prince was something she would give her life for in an instant, and it made her swings that much more firm towards the heads of the lightning wielding fiends that threatened to hurt him. The prince glanced to her, double taking and yelling through the loud rain. 

“What are you doing here?” He had no time to talk, as he thrust his rapier boldly into a nearby lightning spear holding Lizalfos running straight for him, yet the beast did not fall. The rapier was stuck through its stomach, purple smoke billowing out slowly, but the Lizalfos still held its spear and reared back to throw it violently towards the red prince, only to be shot and extinguished by Link’s crossbow, and the shock weapon fell from where it once was, dangerously close to the prince’s feet. 

Once again, the numbers of the beasts fell into a steady decline. Link had all but eviscerated the black colored Lizalfos that held shock weapons, and the trained soldiers of the standing Zora army followed with a full on assault on the club and spear wielding fiends that remained. As the last Lizalfos was expunged into smoke with a swift strike from Sidon's rapier, he turned to the Hylian, who was panting and completely soaked from head to toe, and turned back. 

“Scouts, who among you has come from the domain just now in our aid?” A handful of the Zora scouts raised their hands, some holding silver spears and some holding straight swords. “If you are not wounded, you are to remain here at post. If anything happens, the whistle comes first, do not attempt to fight them without backup. The ones who were here at post when the ambush occurred, you are to help the wounded to the infirmary. You’ve all done excellent work, and if not for your bravery, the safety of our way of life would be subject to destruction.” 

His expression was stern, and his stance was rigid and at attention as he cautiously sheathed his weapon, his eyes studying the trees in the event of still remaining threats. 

Link shakily hooked her own crossbow back on her back, and looked up at the prince, his expression slowly melting into one of concern. 

“Link, I...we’ve no time to lose. Will you let me carry you to the domain so that you may dry off?” Link absolutely did not mind, her body was shaking to the point of near collapse, and she nodded her head. The prince got to one knee, and lifted the girl up carefully, cradling her delicately. Through her soaked vision and ragged breaths, the Hylian was brought clarity by the feeling of Sidon’s warm chest. She pressed her face and arms up to the Zora, and he squeezed her tightly in response, trying to keep her as warm as possible.

“We’re almost there, I'm going to retrieve a few blankets and allow you wrap up in those while I set your clothes to dry, does that sound sufficient?" The girl nodded, her teeth chattering too violently to construct a sentence, and she pressed her face even harder into the prince. As he walked her into the hobby room, he quickly, yet carefully set her down and immediately went for the room next to the giant desk, coming back with an absolutely massive, thick, cream colored blanket and an armful of dim luminous stones. 

"Okay, I'm going to leave the room, and I want you to get curled up in that blanket so that I may set your clothes to dry." Link nodded, her ears drooping flat in her pain, and the prince hastily left the room. Link slipped off her sopping wet clothing, paying no attention to taking her bra off properly, simply moving the shoulder straps and sliding it in one clean motion down her frame. She rolled herself in the blanket next to the rocking chair, and gave a weak "okay!" For the prince to come back. 

The door rattled, and he pushed himself through the door, picking up the Hylian's clothes with care. He grabbed the luminous stones he brought in the room near the girl, who was now wrapped up in a burrito in the blanket, and knocked on them, making them light up even brighter. They emitted a warming glow, and it was a nice, welcoming feeling against her frozen cheeks. 

"I'll return soon, I imagine my father wishes to speak with me of tonight's events. If you need anything, do not hesitate to inform someone to retrieve me" Link weakly spoke. 

"Thank you so much, Prince Sidon." Sidon gave pause as if in thought, and simply chuckled to himself.

"Thank you so much, too, Link."

He slowly closed the door behind him, going back out into the domain with the Hylian's clothes tucked under his arm. Link shivered, slowly thawing under the weight of the comforting sheet. The blankets smelled like a pleasant mixture of citrus and smoke, and since she was inches from him just moments ago, she knew that this was Sidon's blanket.

As she warmed even more, the smell and weight of the blanket gave the girl an overwhelming feeling of relaxation, and her shaking began to slow. Her mind drifted to protecting the Zora, and how the pain in her aching joints had melted away when she gave her all to fight for the prince. The once steadfast sword of Zelda had not faltered when protecting the ones she cared about, that much was apparent to her now. 

She could feel her heart racing still underneath the blankets. _Was the raid of Lizalfos my fault? Did I attract them here?_ She had come to the conclusion that the taming of the agitated Vah Ruta was imperative, and action needed to be taken as soon as possible. She rotated her head around, looking for her bag, it appeared to be completely soaked. She moved her arm out of the warm embrace of the wonderful smelling blanket, and applied her treatment, before setting the bottle down near her. The door to the far end of the room shook open, and the red Prince Sidon walked in with just enough determination and intent as when he had left. Link had found herself blushing, thinking only of wrapping her arms around the prince again in a hug and giving her the comforting feeling that she had felt as he carried her back to the hobby room.

He sat on the chair as he had earlier, and looked at her with a mixture of emotions, as if it were a compassionate and caring sternness that electrified the air around them. “Friend, I know not what to say in this moment, I'm simply glad you’re unharmed.” Link interrupted, her voice cutting into the end of his sentence.

“Please, take me with you next time, Prince Sidon. I want to help you, we’re supposed to tame this beast together, not alone, right? I don't want to see you get h-...I don't want to see _anyone_ hurt by this.” Sidon relaxed a bit, yet his jaw tilted from side to side. 

“To be quite frank, I believe you saved my life, in fact. I’m in your debt, truly.” She smiled bashfully under the blanket. “That goes for both of us, I guess we’re getting pretty good at saving each other, hm?” He smiled to the girl; the big, loving, sharp toothed smile that she hadn't seen in hours, but it had felt like too long. 

“Prince, I…” He perked up, his eyes giving her full attention as he leaned in. “I think we need to calm Vah Ruta tomorrow.” He slumped, his jaw rocked a bit more as he thought. 

“As much as I wish we had more time, I believe that would be a wise decision. Are you certain?” Link nodded firmly, a determined look on her face was almost offset by the ridiculous sight of her completely wrapped up to her neck in a blanket roll. “It’s settled then. Come morning, we shall eat, and then we will make our way to the East Reservoir.” Link paused, perking an ear to the prince, noting his vacant gaze. 

“Are you afraid?” He moved his brilliant yellow eyes to hers. 

“Yes. I’ve no reason to lie to you, friend. I’m terrified, the blight that took over that beast snuffed the healing light from my sisters own hands.” Link chewed on her lip, the idea of the prince being hurt stressed her to no end. 

“This is our chance, Prince Sidon. You said it yourself. I'll help you every step of the way.” He nodded, his hands clenching together again. 

“I can't think of anyone else I’d rather be my aid.” Link flushed red, poking her head out a bit more of the blanket, as she was now getting warm. “Say, I know it not to be my business, but I’m too curious.” Link cocked her head. 

“Hm? Ask me anything, I probably don't have the right answer, but I can try.” She wrinkled her nose, trying to ignore an itch that couldn't be reached, as her arms were tightly wrapped in the warm, comforting blanket she was rolled in. 

“That bottle, what is it for? I’m aware you informed Norwila it was simply lotion, yet you put it on so specifically at night time.” She winced at the memory of the doctor, going out of his way to insult her in that way. 

“It’s um.” She paused, not actually aware of how to explain it. “It’s a treatment to make my body and face more feminine. It was given to me by a friend in Gerudo.” His eyes widened, and his cheeks flushed a bluish green.

“Oh, my goodness. I believe that to be hormonal therapy, yes?” Link’s ear twitched, she wasn't exactly sure what it was called, just that it had very much worked on Vilia. 

“I guess so?” Sidon nodded, smiling. “It’s use has gone throughout ages for multiple things, such as in your case. We have literature that scantily mentions the topic, whether it was taboo, or simply not as heard of back then, I do not know much about it, but. I’m so happy that you can have that, you deserve to feel comfortable with yourself, Link.” Link’s heart jumped, and she shifted in the blankets she was wrapped in. 

“Thank you.” If there was anyone Link felt truly like a girl around, it was Sidon. He made her feel validated, cared for, he made her feel important and powerful, even cute. “It’s made with pregnant horse pee.” She squeaked out of the blanket, and Sidon shot up in an expression of surprise.

“You mean to tell me you’re wearing horse urine in my favorite blanket?!” 

“Why did you give me your favorite blanket?!” She shot back from the comfort of the sheet. The prince pouted, narrowing his eyes at the bratty Hylian.

“Because it’s warm!-” She interrupted. 

“It IS warm!”

“I didn't wish for you to freeze to death!” The two giggled at their fake argument, and Sidon spoke. “I kid, I care not what you wear in my blanket. What’s mine is yours, friend!” The two sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, and Sidon gingerly picked up his project from earlier, and began knitting once more, and the Hylian smiled warmly, her eyes lidded half shut in contentment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This fic has pretty much been my entire free time lately and if at least one person is enjoying it, I am too! These have been some of my favorite chapters to write, by the way. Ive got some plaaaaans!!


	11. Little Minnow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon and Link attempt to break a centuries old curse, but not before Link gets her heartstrings tugged on by the charming Prince Sidon.

“I really do love watching you knit, its therapeutic.” Sidon blew a brief laugh out of his gills, and smiled down at the tapestry. 

“You make quite the audience, friend! I’ve never had someone pay so much mind to my work, even my own father would simply give my projects passing glances.” She watched his fingers dance in tandem with the string, rotating and ducking each other. 

“What else can you tell me about Zora culture?” She asked idly. 

“Oh, by Hylia herself, I’ve much to say. What do you wish to know, hm?” Link shifted in the blanket, focusing her eyes on Sidon’s face. 

“What were they like?” He chuckled, shaking his head in thought. 

“They held a very similar style of royalty.” He pulled his string back with a needle, and set it down to fetch a different colored one. “They had kings, occasionally there are tells of women Zora holding rule over domains as well. What absolutely fascinates me to this day, is the overwhelming talk of freshwater deities coexisting with some domains in the past.” He snipped a string of yarn, and carefully threaded another needle. “If they found their domain to be near particularly volatile waters, more often than not they would either attract, or somehow summon a deity.” Link's eyes widened, sparkling in marvel at Sidons storytelling. 

“What did the deity do?” Sidon spoke. 

“It quite literally breathed in the toxins of the nearby waters, and expelled fresh water. Whether this being was actually a deity, or simply a trait of the species, is up to speculation. The use of them in our society has gone without mention for hundreds of years, and we’ve no idea where they went, or why we stopped needing them at all.” Link stared at Sidon with a look of amazement. 

“That’s so crazy.” Sidon laughed, Link’s blunt responses of awe seemed quite amusing to him.

“What I’m not myself entirely educated on is saltwater Zora, nor is anyone in this domain for that matter. My mother is part saltwater Zora, and never knew her parents. From how different my sister and I am from the rest of the Zora people here, I imagine they are set far apart from us indeed.” He cleared his throat, his body looking fully relaxed from the events prior. 

“How about you, Link? Tell me about your time before showing up upon my kingdoms doorstep.” Link thought, knowing full well she couldnt top what she had heard the prince tell her just seconds earlier. 

“I really liked Gerudo. While not all of its people were comfortable with me, it was apparent that they were just scared of the foundation of their way of life being threatened again.” Sidon looked with concern at his needles, glancing up at the hylian for a moment.

“In what ways were they cross with you?” 

“They were short, a few made me feel insignificant, even their chief. I proved my worth to her, and for that I have the sword I carry. What I remember most was how light the air felt after Vah Naboris was tamed, so many were crying with relief. I hope the same feeling is still there as we speak.” Sidon smiled, knowing fully well the emotion Link mentioned. 

“I can relate to them, and I can assure you it is. Liberation will be a wonderful feeling, and for that I am optimistic. In regards to feeling insignificant, I hope that you feel your worth here, as I couldn't bear the thought of you being told you’re anything less than fantastic.” He had stopped sewing to say the latter half of the sentence, and she met his gaze, her eyes welling with tears. “Hey, are you alright?” 

Link struggled to speak, her lip quivering as her eyes threatened to burst with tears. 

“I..." She stifled her tears. Watching the empathetic expression of the kind zora prince, her eyes confusedly dancing across his beautiful features, his striking yet caring eyes, she was hit by a wave of a strange realisation.

She finally understood why she felt the way she did around the prince, and the tears that threatened her began to flow from her eyes in confusion and elation alike. She knew in that moment she had feelings for him, and wanted to spend all of her time by his side. 

“Hey, hey, what was it I had said? Dear friend.” She spoke up through her sobs. 

“I’m more than happy here, Prince Sidon. You’ve just been so kind.” Sidon knit his brows, and gave her a smile of relief. 

“Well, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.” 

The time ticked by, and it was not long at all in the comfortable silence of Link lovingly watching Sidon knit was she falling asleep to the beautiful smell of the blanket she was wrapped in. She awoke to a door being opened, and the prince walking in from the cloudy, rainy morning light of the hobby room. “Ah, I’m sorry friend! I didn't mean to wake you! Just when I thought I was getting good at being quiet, your Hylian ears have bested me!” She smiled sleepily at the shining prince, and her clothes sitting on the rocking chair caught her eye. 

“Good morning, Prince Sidon.” The Hylian seeing her favorite person first thing in the morning was the best way to wake up, and her heart ached at the idea of it not always being that way just as soon as she had started enjoying it. 

“Shall I let you dress? I have in mind a few breakfast options, I’ll let you know when I return, hm?” The small Hylian nodded.

“I'll knock when I’m ready, okay?” She said, her hair popping out in all different directions from the angles she was sleeping in the night prior. She slid her warm clothes on, only to realize they'll probably be getting soaked from fighting Vah Ruta. She strapped her weapons to her person, and sharply knocked on the door to the domain. Sidon pulled the door open immediately, and he gave a huge smile to the girl. "I'm so glad to see you awake, friend!" He spoke with a lighthearted tone, and ushered her to walk with him. "I'm happy to see you too!" The hylian beamed, as they walked along the stretch of marble across the domains outer ring. "Do you wish for sweet, or salty?" The hylian perked up. 

"Sweet!" Sidon smiled, his teeth gleaming. 

"I was hoping you'd say that!" 

The two walked leisurely into Hateno Huddle, and the owner once again perked up amongst the crowd of hungry Zora to the princes obvious presence. Link followed Sidon, her gait matching his as she tried her best to ignore the gazes of the cafe's patrons. She saw a table of frantically giggling girls watching the prince, muttering to one another and laughing flirtatiously amongst themselves. 

"Hello, Prince Sidon!" One of them yelled, and he waved and smiled, laughing happily and giving them a "Good morning!" Back. The group erupted into playful laughter again, and the Hylian felt strange at their ogling of him. 

"Hello there, Prince! And hylian girl!" Link spoke up. 

"I'm Link." She giggled a bit. 

"And Link! What can I get the two of you this rainy morning?" Link spoke first. 

"Black tea please." Sidon looked to the sleepy hylian and smiled, and looked back up to the owner.

"Seagrass tea and a lot of baked bream, please." Links ears twitched, looking groggy at the lovely prince. 

"What are those?" 

He smiled at the girl. 

"You'll see!" The two sat down in the only empty table in the cafe, and Link sleepily rested her arms on the table and rested her cheeks on her hands. Sidon laughed at her expression. "You really aren't a morning person, are you friend?" He looked at her with concerned amusement as she shook her head, still putting all of her weight from her head on her cheeks. The owner put down a huge plate of cartoonishly fish shaped, golden cakes. They smelled sweet, like a mapley buttery heat, and she immediately went for one as they hit the table. Sidon motioned for the waitress to come closer to him, and spoke in hushed tones. "Excuse me, do you sell your black tea here in bags?" 

The owner bounced joyfully, giving a very chipper "yep!" The prince glanced at Link, who was already carefully nursing her tea, and looked back to the owner. 

"Do you think I could get about twenty of them or so? Whatever size you'd say is fit for a gift." "Sure!" She spoke a bit louder than Sidon would have deemed secretive, but Link seemed far too distracted by her tea and food to mind. 

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten. What is in these?" The Hylian was absolutely in love with them, and it seemed that Sidon knew her tastes exactly. Sidon bit down on one as well. 

"It's a cake filled with sweet bean paste, it was so popular at our festivals long ago that it's just become a staple food here!" As Link ate, she felt curious of the princes thoughts that morning.

"Are you okay this morning, prince?" Sidon finished taking a sip of his dark orange tea and began. 

"I was nervous when I awoke. But, I feel strangely calm now. There truly is nothing we'll let stand in our way. You and I are unstoppable, friend!" He certainly made the girl feel unstoppable as her heart fluttered at his goofy, confident smile. The owner approached them, and handed the prince a small string-tied paper-wrapped box, and he thanked the woman. 

"What's that?" Link said into her teacup, and sidon gingerly set it down on her side of the table. "Open it!" She looked at him cautiously, her eyes darting around the room in confusion, and she pulled the rope apart from the knot and unwrapped the paper, immediately being hit with the familiar bitter smell of black tea. A bit more than twenty little portions of the blackened leaves sat neatly lined up in a row, wrapped in nearly translucent bags. She looked at him with amazement, her hands gripping the sides of the box tightly in her excitement. 

“This is too much, I love it so much, Prince Sidon! What made you want to do this?” The prince proudly sipped from his cup, and spoke. 

“I was thinking that when you depart, you’ll want something to wake you up in the mornings. I couldn't help but notice how even just the _smell_ of that tea wakes you!” Her heart sank, and the grip around the box weakened. she had been so charmed by Sidon, that she had forgotten that she has more beasts than just Vah Ruta to tame. 

“Thank you, you’re too thoughtful, Prince.” Sidon’s face grew stern, and his jaw rocked from side to side. 

“Are you ready, friend?”

“I am.” 

They exited Hateno Huddle, and Sidon lead them to the complete east side of the corridor in silence, which ended with a flowing waterfall. “You trust me, don't you Link?” Link nodded, her heart had never been so trusting of one person before, if she could find a better way to make him understand, she would. 

“I do.” 

Sidon shot the girl a toothy grin. 

“Good, we’ll need that trust, because i'm going to swim us up this waterfall.” Link’s eyes traced the entirety of the grand waterfall, the torrential stream that flowed down its rocky side was staggeringly strong, blowing a harsh cold mist at the two. 

“H-how?” Sidon looked at her as a parent would to their child they’re trying to teach swim, with patience and care. 

“I need you to wrap your arms around my neck, and I need you to hold on. The art of waterfall climbing is something that’s kept our race alive in even the hardest times, I assure you, you will not be hurt.” The prince got down to one knee, and the girl carefully climbed on. She immediately felt the warming, comforting elation that she could even feel the night prior, cold and aching in the middle of the harsh downpour. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and nervously nodded her head as Sidon looked back to her. 

“Okay. I will not let you fall, friend!” He leaped into the falls, and as her face met with its jetstream mist of water, they began their ascent. The wind and the water blurred her vision, but she could only think of how fast her heart was beating as she was being carried up the waterfall by the Zora prince. They kept going for what seemed like forever, and just as soon as the thought passed her mind, they shot up from the waterfall, the gigantic form of the elephant Vah Ruta was in sight, looming on the far end of the body of water, and Sidon angled himself to land on a small patch of land near the reservoir.

Link detached from the prince, balling her hands into fists and jumping up and down. “That was so much fun!” Her expression went from one of joy, to one of sadness, as she looked at the prince, his gaze set at Vah Ruta with an empty, vacant stare. The elephant was very similar to Vah Naboris, its trunk was an accordion-like appendage, stretching skyward and shooting a constant violent stream of out of its trunk, its water shooting straight into the sky, only to fall back down to the now soaked Zora domain and surrounding areas. 

“You needn't carry anything, save for your crossbow and your bolts, its best to probably drop the rest of your things here.” Link set the Blade of the Eight and her bag down, and walked back up to the princes side once again. “What I will do, is try to swim as far to the surface of the water as possible, and I need you to shoot its generators as I circle it. It seems an easy task, but i'm not entirely sure what the beast uses to defend itself. My sister was _not_ one to falter easily.” 

Link loaded her crossbow, its lightweight, slender frame feeling comfortable in her grip. “Shall we begin?” Link nodded, and Sidon jumped into the water, resurfacing quickly and gesturing for her to join him. “Hop on my back. Don't give up, Link. I believe in you!” 

Link jumped on Sidon’s back, the cold, blue water of the reservoir was oddly clean compared to the rest of the domain, cold and crystal clear. Sidon began gently wading towards Vah Ruta. The beast had four cylindrical water tanks on all sides that glowed an angry black and red smoke when the prince approached it. Link saw the prince gesture to the first tank to shoot the beast, and the Hylian pointed her crossbow in kind. 

The bolt met with one of the glowing tanks, and just as Vah Naboris, the beast grew angered, and began stomping the watery ground with its feet as it screamed a mechanical wail. Link loaded another bolt just as she had before, finding Sidon’s back to be a pretty comfortable place to shoot from. The water below them undulated strongly with the beasts stomps, making it hard to get a clear shot, and from small barbs on the mechanical tanks the beast began glowing with a cold, white energy. A large chunk of white, murky ice began to form itself from the barbs, and Link shot the next bolt, getting a direct hit on the beasts second tank. 

“That is not good.” The prince mumbled. The vibrations from his deep voice were felt through the Hylian's fingertips as she readjusting herself on the princes back and loaded her crossbow again.

In a flash, the ice that was forming just seconds ago exploded, the force of the blast sent glass-like chunks at the two, and Link felt her arm take a gigantic hit, the ice nearly breaking her slender frame. 

“Are you alright, Link?” She stifled a cry of pain, and yelled back over the screaming Vah Ruta. “I’ll be okay! Bring us over to the other side!” 

Sidon swam frantically to the other side of the elephant, the beast struggling to keep up with how fast the Zora could go. Link limply loaded her next bolt, and pointed her crossbow wearily at the next tank. As it hit its mark, sparks popped off of its sides, and Vah Ruta screamed in a final act of defiance. It bounced in the reservoir, the waves sending cascades of water down into the domain below, and the beast began creating another ball of ice. As the explosion rang out from the glass-like creation, Link attempted to reload her crossbow, keeping a firm hold on Sidon with her legs.

Sidon shot out, swimming out of the way of most of the hail, but took a sizeable chunk straight to his head, and the Hylians heart broke as he recoiled in great pain. She released the last shock bolt, and its meeting with the beast caused its internal machinations to clunk, and pop, and as Vah Naboris had done so before, the beast lowered itself slowly into the water. “Sidon, we did it!” Sidon was quiet, and Link was afraid he had passed out from the blow to his head. “Prince Sidon?” He spoke up. 

“Yes, my friend.” 

“We did it!” She patted his back, as if to get his attention, and he watched as Ruta began to fall into the water, and a ladder shot out from its side. 

“That we did.” 

She hugged from on his back, feeling his head nuzzle into her in the best hug he could manage. “I suppose that opening in the beast means it's your turn to turn it back on, yes?” Sidon asked, somewhat in shock of what he was seeing, what he had accomplished. 

“No, please, I want you to come with me.” Sidon sighed and shook his head, 

“I’m afraid I’d be too upset walking into that behemoth, I don-” Link interrupted, sternly, and almost uncharacteristically. 

“Prince, please. I have to have you in there with me.” The reluctant prince wavered, and broke under her insistence. They floated their way over to the stairs, the stone was warm and inviting to Link, yet Sidon seemed to cringe as he stepped upon its steps. As they walked in, Link noticed the layout of the inside was quite similar to Vah Naboris, with blue, vein-like glowing strips lead from one power source to the next, all ending in the middle, flower shaped control panel. Her sheikah slate whirred, and she held the device to the console, setting it down with a magnetic _click_ so that it could do what she assumed was fixing the beast altogether. She turned to Sidon, and he was grinding his teeth incessantly.

“Friend, are you truly sure I should be in here with you? I wish not to be surrounded by this beast.” As he spoke, the ghostly visage of Mipha materialized behind him, her ethereal form made her float slightly off the ground. Her head fins were small compared to the princes, as was the rest of her body. She was Link’s size, and her hands seemed to glow a warming, radiant blue color, and she immediately wore a look of surprise and elation. 

“Sidon?! Baby brother!” He turned to her, his knees appeared to buckle in shock of what he was seeing, and before he could even begin to run to hug her, he broke out in sobs. He fell to his knees in front of the visage, and held her close to him. 

“Mipha! _Mipha I had missed you so much! I have waited so long to see you again! Mipha!”_ She rested her head on the princes head as he sobbed, and she, too, began to do so. “You have grown so big, you beautiful prince! How is father? How is our kingdom, brother?!” Sidon heaved sobs into the girls nearly see through body, and spoke in a quiver. 

“Better...better now that you’ve a chance to rest, and I shall see to it that it heals alongside the rest of Hyrule. I’m so lucky that I get to see you again, you’re so _beautiful_ , sister.” She giggled through her sobs, and they held each other and cried in relief for what felt like hours, and Link simply grabbed her Shiekah slate, and sat down on the hard, stone ground. They finally released the long hug, and Mipha looked the prince up and down. 

“Oh, dear brother, you’ve a nasty gash on your head.” Sidon sniffled, laughing at the spirit of his sister.

“Vah Ruta was very unkind to Link and I.” Mipha craned her head over to the Hylian, and her eyes shot open in surprise. 

“Wha...Link?? How on earth have you lived this long?” Sidon piped up, smiling at his friend. 

“She was put into a resurrection chamber at the beginning of the calamity.” 

She quirked an eyebrow, her hands were still resting on her brother, and she looked back to the Zora.

“She is now beautiful. As much as I thought her to be my be betrothed, I don't believe her to be quite my type anymore.” Sidon stifled a laugh, trying not to get the Hylian’s attention. “As I know you’re quite aware, my time here is very short lived.” Sidon dipped his head toward the ground, and held back another stream of tears. “You’ve no longer any reason to mourn me, as I will now rest easily.” Sidon began crying again, and spoke in ragged breaths. 

“It’s all I’ve been thinking of these past years, I'm so happy to see your smile once again, If even one last time.” She ran her fingers across his cheek, and noticed that she was becoming more translucent as time went on.

“Follow me” Mipha led her brother over to the terminal, and spoke with him there, she was moving across various interfaces on the screen, and touching things Sidon couldn't understand completely. “I wish to move Vah Ruta to a higher elevation, as the only thing I can do to help is to zero it in on Ganon’s blight, and focus Vah Ruta’s canon to it.” Sidon placed a gentle hand on hers, and stopped her. 

“Sister, wait. I need to ask something.” She looked at him, the expression on her face showed him what little time she had left, yet she wanted to give her brother anything. 

“What is it, brother?” Sidon spoke softly, yet his expression was determined and resolute. 

“I wish to pilot Vah Ruta. I simply cannot stand idly by while others are suffering the same fate as our own domain.” Mipha’s eyes widened. 

“I...I simply do not have the time left in this life to change your mind against this. You were never one to listen once your mind has been made up.” Sidon pulled Mipha’s visage into a loving hug, and squeezed her tightly. “You’ve a willpower strong as mine own, Vah Ruta will bend to your demand, just... please visit dad every now and then if you plan to leave the domain, he will grow antsy without your company.” Sidon chuckled. 

“That I shall.” Mipha looked to the console, her gaze moving across the many panels that littered the screen, and looked to Sidon. “Brother, if you would, please set your palm down on the console.” He placed his hand in the blue, glowing interface on the screen, and it’s lights went from red, to blue, and finally to a deep green. “Well, consider yourself the new champion of the Zora people.” Sidon scoffed. 

“It certainly isn't that easy, yes?” Mipha parted her lips in a quaint smile, and spoke. 

“Not to be prudish, but It is when you’ve a bloodline like our own. Willpower and resolve is what it uses to determine a champion, and it seems you’re more than fit to the task. You can thank our mother for that tenacity.” She winked at the prince as the beast hummed, and the trumpeting sound of Vah Ruta echoed throughout Lanyru, uncorrupted by the mire that Ganon had wounded it with.

“I can also thank a wonderful sister that grew up alongside me.” 

Link had been watching from a distance, but she could see the myriad of expressions the handsome prince was going through, and she was glad that most of them were positive ones. 

“I believe I've not much longer, brother. I must say goodbye.” He got to one knee, and hugged her once more. “I will see you one day. One day far, far from now. But take solace knowing that we will have time to speak of strange, old Zora traditions once more again in the next life.” Sidon chuckled, still sobbing into the fading girl’s shoulders. 

“I will, sister. I love you dearly.” She smiled, her form fading as well as her voice. 

“I love you too, little minnow.” 

Sidon sat in that position, his arms still trying to keep the shape they took around where his sisters ghostly form stood, until he finally set them down. Link carefully approached, and she set a hand gently on the princes back. He reacted to her touch, but not in the way she expected. He wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her close to him for a hug, and she lovingly, shyly returned it, pressing her head on his shoulder. 

“You knew she would be here, did you not?” Link nodded, taking in the loving hug, feeling completely safe in his embrace. “You thought not to tell me, and I believe that was the best course of action. I...I don't know how to thank you, friend.” Link spoke through his kindness, her eyes beginning to water as she had so many things to thank the prince for as well. 

“You were so amazing.” 

He pulled back, meeting her gaze with tears in his beautiful yellow eyes. 

"I can think of no one more amazing than you, Link." Link felt sparks run up and down her body, along with an overwhelming urge to pull herself to the prince and kiss him, and if she was anyone else in the world, she would have. 

"Sidon, why hasn't Vah Ruta moved?" He pulled back, sitting at one knee, thinking of how to tell her of his status as the new champion. 

"I'd like to tell you later, we've a celebration to throw, yes?" Link nodded, and they exited the now healthy divine beast. As the two walked outside, the skies were clear like they never have been before, and Link noticed Sidon's vibrant red body seemed to glow in the midday sun. They approached the overpass that dropped into the domain below, the Hylian grabbing her things and looking along with Sidon as the people began leaving their homes in the town, and basked in the dry, warm weather for the first time in ages, for some, it was the first time in their lives. 

"Shall we go?" He gestured to the waterfall, and got on one knee to carry the girl to swim down the falls once more. She climbed on the warm prince, melting at his touch as he held her legs and heaved her up on his back. He leaped toward the water, and the world became a misty veil in the Hylians vision again, before abruptly becoming clear again, her body landing with her arms safely wrapped around the prince on the east side of the Zora domain. "Link, you may want to get your arm looked at, you may be fractured." She waved her limp arm weakly and trying to avoid having to see the healer at all. Sidon gave a sad smile. 

"Are you going to get that bash you took to the head looked at?" He nodded, before turning his head to the crowd of Zora that were racing to the prince and the Hylian. 

"I will, but it may take a while to get through this crowd." They were suffocated by the people from the domain, the vast majority were crying with tears of joy and uproarious laughter from the unannounced events. The once dense and ever-looming cloud of rain was now gone, and the air was now filled with dense questioning from the domains citizens. 

"Were you hurt?" 

"No, L-" 

"You saved us, prince!" 

"I can't take all the credit-" 

"Who's that girl you're with?" He struggled to stay standing up in the sea of people, threatening to be carried by the whole town 

"Her name is Link, she's my-" 

"Prince, how long will the rain be stopped?" 

"Forever!"

The large group roared happily again and the two were pushed and carried among the crowd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mm I loved writing the Mipha scene here, I just thought it was so bonkers that Sidon just left after he and Link tame Vah Ruta in the game, ugh


	12. Invincible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trade routes, old Zora, and an inquiry. Will Link want to take Prince Sidon along with her to the ends of Hyrule? Is that even a question?

"Come, Link! I must inform my father of mine and my kingdoms safety!" Link was being battered around the blaring crowd, but could hear the princes demanding voice from across the other side, wading through the cacophony of questioning with all the grace he could muster. The sea of cheering Zora followed, the prince stumbling through the crowd onto the open faced chamber that held his father's intimidating form, and Link was soon to nearly fall over behind the prince, being shoved to the stage as well. 

“Father-” Sidon huffed, fixing his sash that hung messily across his side, and his epaulettes set heavily off kilter from his shoulders. “Link and I have had the beast tamed" he paused to take a heavy breath, "and our safety assured!" He shot the king a gleaming smile, and Dorephan's eyes glistened, his gaze set upon the hundreds of Zora hugging and talking amongst themselves in the impromptu celebration of the days achievements. 

"I'm sorry I had any doubts of your ability, I'm so glad that you're alright! Oh my, I'll have to start discussing trade and tourism again with the elder council!" His eyes glinted with excitement, and Sidon nodded cheerfully and spoke. 

"I'll see to it that you receive the documents from the last trade routes we had established, we could set things in motion with Hateno as soon as possible!" Dorephan laughed, the echo bouncing off the domains walls. 

"Oh, listen to me, I'm actually looking forward to paperwork!" Sidon looked to Link, and motioned for the small girl to come forth. 

"It could not have been done without Link. without her, I could not have tamed Vah Ruta at all." Dorephan shifted his head to the girl, and huffed merrily. 

"I believe apologies are in order for you, too, Hylian! I should have expected nothing less from Zelda's royal sword!" She smiled, knowing she'd do anything to keep Sidon safe, and she hoped the king could see that in her expression. 

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat, sir." The king chucked. 

"I would hope you do not have to! Your nobility reminds me of my wife, her compassion towards her people drove every thrust of her blade among the Zora army. I can only hope Sidon finds someone with the very same tenacity, aha!" Link's cheeks grew red, thinking only of a world where she could be that for him. 

"Father!" Sidon flushed a blueish green, Dorephan laughing at his embarrassment. 

"Bah! What good am I for if not to embarass you?" The king scoffed, smiling merrily at his son's stern expression. "Alright, I believe I've an elder council to speak with, I'll be in the archives if you need me!" The king pulled his gigantic frame off of the throne at which he sat, and his footsteps seemed to shake the entire domain as he left. 

“May I have everyone’s attention!” Sidon spoke over the crowd of people, yet the volume at which they spoke was drowning out his voice. The prince lifted the little whistle from his ascot, and gave it a quick blow, cutting through the sounds of the ecstatic crowd with no effort. “Everyone, I’ve a few things to say moving forward. I know the Zora are anxious to stretch their legs, we have trade routes to establish, long bygone friendships to make with people in the unknown, yet we do not yet know the status of the Lizalfos threat in amongst the outskirts of our land.” He moved his gaze to Link, and looked back at the crowd. “I would like us to wait until tomorrow morning, and have any volunteers in the standing Zora army to join me on a scouting trip to Inogo bridge, and from that point we may assess what we’re dealing with. From today onward-” he held up a fist, accentuating his point, all while flashing a confident smile, “long may the sun shine on Lanyru!” 

The crowd once again fell into uproar, the excitement and optimism palpable in the now dry air of Lanyru. Link tugged at the prince, who seemed to be zoning out in delight at the new sight of the lifted spirits of his people. He bent down to listen to her. 

“Am I allowed to come with you tomorrow morning?” Sidon laughed giddily for a moment, his radiant smile never had grown quite as bright before, and Link felt like she was falling head over heels for him every time she saw it. 

“Of course! I’d have it no other way, in fact!” Link’s ears grew warm, and she affectionately smiled at Sidon’s chipper matter-of-fact tone. “Only if you come get your arm looked at! I don't want you getting hurt because of a minor injury, to bring a fearsome warrior like yourself to her knees with something so small would be shameful!” Link pouted, and her ears grew flat in distaste for the healer. 

“Sidon, I have something to tell you, but I’d like it to be in private.” The prince cocked his head in confusion for a moment before giving her an understanding nod. 

“Come, let’s go to the hobby room.” She stayed close behind him as they walked, having to keep her steps quicker than his lengthy strides. He opened the door to the royal hobby room, and the two walked inside of its dimly lit safety. Sidon quickly tapped a luminous stone on the familiar side of the room, the rocking chair laying near the gigantic blanket that was still wrinkled and bundled from Link sleeping in it the night before. “What is the matter?” He got to one knee to meet the Hylians gaze, and she felt trouble finding the words. She didn't want to bother the prince, yet she couldn't see herself going around Norwila at all. 

“I…” Sidon’s brow furrowed, and he leaned himself on his knee to seem that much closer to Link. 

“It’s okay, you can truly tell me anything that’s on your mind. Even if you...I don't know, put a salmon in my pillow, or painted profanity on my back when I wasn't looking, there’s no judgement here!” Link giggled, darting her eyes from the prince for a moment and scratching the back of her head. 

“No, but that would be pretty funny.” Sidons lips parted in an amused exhale. 

“I shouldn't have said anything, please do neither of those things to me.” Link cracked up laughing, her expression lighting up from stressed to happy in seconds. 

“I’m not going to! It’s just a funny visual!” Sidon’s face began to sober into a stern expression again. 

“I’m not saying you cannot trust anyone, but if there’s anyone you could confide in, it's me.” Link spoke once again. 

“I don’t wish to bother you-” Sidon interrupted the girl. 

“You do no such thing, not ever.” She bit her lip, shifting nervously and looking at the wooly rug beneath her. 

“I don't want to see that healer, I believe he went out of his way to call me a man several times.” Sidons expression grew to an aggravated one, and he exhaled sharply at the news. 

“He did, did he?” The prince rocked his jaw. “I told him explicitly to refer to you correctly, and yet he chose to hurt the feelings of the first Hylian we’ve met in so long.” Sidon readjusted his stance, straightening his back up politely at the girl. 

“I’m sorry, I don't wan-” Sidon stopped her, setting a gentle hand on the girls shoulder. 

“Please, friend. Do not apologize, it is I who should be doing the apologizing. We’ve more than one nurse in training here who’s more than qualified to look at your arm, okay?” She moved her head up to the princes gaze, his eyes looked woefully apologetic to the girl as she leaned into his touch. “I will see to it he has his license revoked until he goes through rather impromptu, yet necessary sensitivity training, this is not the first time he’s been...troublesome.” Link idly counted the thick strands of wool that lined the gigantic rug, losing herself in her thoughts. 

“Friend, you are no man. Whatever you were born as has no connection to how you view yourself now, how you feel, that’s what's truly important. You are a lovely person, both inside and out.” Link felt the air emotionally punched out of her, and she stood tearfully in front of the prince. “

Don't say such nice things because I am different, please. I can't handle being lied to like that.” Sidon’s eyes widened at Link’s sudden brashness, and his shoulders slumped in exasperated worry. 

“Link, please, I would not say these things if I didn't mean them. I wish there was some other way to make you believe me. I can only hope-” he paused, waiting for Link to look to him. “that in time, you see yourself as I do you. I think you’re amazing.” 

Her eyes flowed still, yet she could still see the prince’s beautiful yellow glowing eyes from the blur of the hot tears that stained her vision. After all that has happened, Link felt like she should believe him, she had no reason not to, yet to believe that the prince thinks she is so lovely even when she hasn't been born female just didn’t register in her head. 

“I...I feel like a freak, Prince Sidon.” The prince’s grip around her shoulder tightened, and she recoiled in pain from the tender sore that was left there earlier in the day. 

“Oh, Link, I had forgotten about your injury, I’m sorry!” 

“It’s okay.” She rotated her shoulder, pouting and biting her lip in pain. 

“Link, while it stings me deeply to hear how you feel, I thank you so, so much for opening up to me” He paused, thinking of what to say next as the buzzing of the luminous stone reverberated around the room. “You know, if I may, I’d like to speak of something I feel we have in common.” Link’s ear twitched in curiosity as the tears she shed fell onto her red jacket. 

“I know what feeling singled out is like. When Mipha was taken by the calamity, my father had isolated himself. He was not around as much as fathers  _ usually _ are. I was raised by aloof old handmaidens and more-than-proper royal elders of which have since passed. 

I never fit in. Kids were just,  _ intimidated  _ by me. For Hylia’s sake, I'm even the only Zora that bears such a bright color! I was picked on so much for that.” 

Link giggled, sniffling through her speech. “But I love your color.” Sidon chuckled sadly. 

“Exactly! When I saw you; when I realized who you are, to me you just look like another bright red Zora. Link, you wear that special color so well. You are vibrant, you are courageous, and it is beautiful.” 

Link's hands clenched tightly, as her heart caved to believe him, and she sputtered through her words. 

“Thank you. I don’t know how I'll ever be able to repay you for how nice you are to me.” Sidon smirked, glancing at the girl's aching arm in the dimly lit room and looking back to her. 

"You deserve it, Link. Have I ever told you how amazing you are?" Link's heart melted, and she slowly moved herself to hug the prince from where he was crouched in front of her, and she could feel the prince gently squeeze her back, paying extra attention to her hurt arm. Link felt so safe in his embrace, and only wanted him to hold on tighter.

"Would it be alright if we both went to go find you a healer together? I can use the time to speak to Norwila, which I’m looking forward to, quite frankly." The girl sniffled, wiping her nose on her jacket sleeve, and nodded. “Excellent! While it might not be occupied from today’s events, we can visit the nursing center.” 

The two walked out into the sunny, bright skies of Lanyru, and walked along the gigantic corridor across Zora’s domains walls. Sidon looked to the crowd of people still conversing of their newfound freedom near the king’s throne. 

“It appears everyone’s still near the royal chamber.” 

“Nu-uh, see?” Link nudged the prince, pointing at the now full Hateno Huddle.

“Well, I suppose not  _ everybody.”  _ Sidon pushed the door to the nursing center, and the smell of cool, sterile air and chemicals wafted from inside. The room was sparse, a chalkboard on the far end was lit by sconces that surrounded the class. A short, dark blue small framed Zora shot a look at the door, and moved her gaze up to the prince’s eyes. 

“Oh my, hello prince!” She clicked the pen she was using and stood herself up from the hard, bowl shaped blue chair that was sitting near the end of the room. 

“You are...Laryan, the senior nursing instructor, yes?” The prince winced preemptively, hoping he was right. 

"Yes! I must look quite mad, staying back tucked away here at such a turbulent time." Sidon waved his hand dismissively, chuckling at her self deprecation. 

"Nonsense, everyone is celebrating in their own way! The now dry air of our domain will be there to greet you all the same." Link looked around the room while rubbing her tender wound, disinfecting tips and symptoms of common Zora ailments were lined in wonderfully drawn posters across the walls. 

"I was hoping someone able could tend to Link's arm, she took quite the hit from Vah Ruta." Link pouted, looking up at the small divot in the prince's otherwise perfect crest upon his head. The Hylian pointed at the prince as if she was telling on him for stealing her favorite blanket. 

"He also got hit. In the head. Don't let him leave before someone looks at it." Sidon smiled nervously at the nurse, who looked up at his injury. 

"Ah yes. We may need to see if you're concussed.” She got on her tippy toes, looking the wound over the best she could. “Are you seeing stars at all?” Sidon pouted in thought, 

“No, I don't believe so.” She narrowed her eyes at the prince’s head, removing her pen from her coat pocket. 

“Mm, could you focus your eyes on my pen, please.” She waved it from side to side in front of his vision, and he kept his somewhat anxious eyes on the pen. “You’re okay. I figure with a crest like yours it would take a lot to concuss you. If you get dizzy or confused, please come find me” Sidon shot up, confident and brightly smiling at the two. 

“Link, is it alright if I depart for a small while? I must visit Norwila.” The nurse perked up. 

“The doctor? What of him?” Sidon glanced at Link, who’s eyes were at the floor, saddened at the thought of being berated by the man. 

“Nothing, simply a status report.” He crouched next to the Hylian, looking at her worried expression through comforting eyes. “I shall see you soon, okay, friend? When I return, we can get dinner together.” She pouted her lip anxiously, nodding her head at the thought of spending more time with her favorite person. He carefully shut the door behind him, keeping eye contact with the Hylian all the while and smiling.

Prince Sidon walked amongst the halls of the great Zora domain, his steps filled with intent and his posture as firm as it’s ever been. The sounds of the buzzing crowd in the central hub of the town and the line that poured out of Hateno Huddle were drowned in his thoughts as he made his way to the elder doctor’s office. He opened the door to a small, stuffy little room filled with documents left undiscarded from patient cases lying among filing cabinets overfilled with papers. The doctor sat with his elbows on his table, poring over a dense page of scribblings hastily scrawled in off-white parchment. 

His eyes slowly shot up to the firm gaze of the prince. “Hello, Prince Sidon. Is there something you need?” Sidon flatly nodded, his face neutral as he began. 

“I was told by our Hylian guest that you went out of your way to address them specifically how I told you not to.” His eyes grew angry at Sidon, and a scowl grew to his face. 

“I have nothing but undying loyalty to my people, prince, I will not stoop to that  _ child’s  _ level and play along with his perversion. It’s bad enough a Hylian comes here, let alone one so troubled.” Sidon’s posture tightened, and he took a sharp breath. 

“I beg your  _ pardon,  _ doctor. That  _ child  _ just ensured your people’s safety for the coming years and revitalized their spirits and yet you look at me and continue to spout your vitriol?” The doctors hands gripped his desk in frustration and he scoffed at the prince. 

“The healers that instructed me were from a long line of others, one of the longest records of healers in Zora history, I feel as though you’ve no room to tell me what  _ I’m  _ doing is incorrect.” Sidon exhaled again, his frustration with the doctor becoming palpable. 

“I’ve no qualms with ending that line, believe me, Norwila. This is not the first time this has happened, it is as if you forget that the idea of progressing in any field is to continue moving forward, not staying in the same place.” Norwila’s eyes shot open in surprised disdain. 

“Are you implying you will  _ relieve  _ me from my own field? You cannot be serious, why is it that you feel the need to please everyone in this domain?” Sidon huffed, rolling his eyes at the crotchety Zora before him. 

“This is not an isolated incident, you’ve berated more than one patient with little to no repercussion both of which were  _ Zora _ . Being a Hylian has  _ nothing  _ to do with this. If you do not attend some kind of class for this and change your ways, I’m afraid you will not be tending to our people or anyone who plans to visit our domain any longer, your methodology is archaic.” Norwila narrowed his eyes at the prince. 

“Why are you putting my career over this  _ boy _ ? Your father would be ashamed of you.” Sidon gritted his teeth, trying to keep his voice calm and collected as he spoke. 

“That’s all I needed, Norwila. Pack your things, you will be relieved at once and replaced by someone far more competent than yourself.” Sidon didn’t so much as look behind him as he adjusted his sash and walked out the door politely, shutting it as he heard the Zoras protest. He inhaled, holding his breath for a few seconds to collect himself, and exhaled calmly. 

The prince was relieved that Link didn’t have to hear any of Norwila’s ramblings, yet to hear someone talk down on the most important person he’d met in so long was disheartening. He didn't understand how anyone could see her like that. He walked along the marble floor, warmed by the sun rays peeking through the normally darkened corridor. 

He opened the door to the archive, the usually barren area around the filing cabinets was now occupied by a small group of elders and Sidon’s father. The prince walked to the group, who were probably discussing political steps moving forward. 

“No, I don't believe moving that much for a first trip will be entirely necessary, the idea is to provide a small amount of what we  _ can  _ trade as a peace offering, and in return get what they can provide to test the waters.” One of the old, wrinkled Zora croaked. 

"Mm, that's a good course of action, although I'm not entirely aware of where we even plan to take these things, our maps may not even be nearly accurate any longer.” 

“Pardon me, if I may.” The prince interjected, holding up a hand and asking for pause. “Link has an updated map, as well as knowledge of some settlements.” Muzu’s eyes moved to the prince, and he spoke up. 

“No, that would no-” King Dorephan spoke, his voice commanding everyone’s attention. 

“That would be fantastic! While we most likely could just wait for visitors to tell us, I'd rather we begin on the right foot as soon as possible!” The prince nodded excitedly, much to the elders disdain. 

“Father, I have a few questions to ask you.” The kind looking king moved his head toward his son, crouching his gigantic body that made even the archive look normal sized to listen intently. “What is it, my boy?” His grin was brighter than Sidon had seen it in so long, and he smiled back at the king with an expression that tried to match his fathers. 

“Well, I’ve given it much thought, and after taming Vah Ruta I believe my mind has been made up. I wish to help tame the others.” The king scoffed, mulling the idea over. 

“My, you are quite the spitfire, child. What has gotten into you?” He chuckled at his son, shaking his head in disbelief. “You wish to leave the Zora kingdom? What would your people think of that?” Sidon shook his head thoroughly, using his words to continue his point. 

“No, no of course not! I just, I wish to help people who have been through similar hardships.” The king’s eyes sparkled at his sons nobility. 

“You’ve your mothers backbone, son. If this were before you tamed Vah Ruta, I would sternly decline you this, but... I think I can handle the domain while you are departed.” 

Sidon was taken aback by his father's agreement, expecting him to push back more. 

“Father, I did not tame the wild Vah Ruta. I am its champion now.” All of the elder council, including the king himself intensified their gaze on the prince. 

“You...it listens to you now? How did you manage that?” The prince thought for a moment, the idea of opening his father's wounds from grieving his daughter that have just begun healing after the taming of Vah Ruta were too much for him to handle. 

“Well, I walked inside of the beast with Link. She was the one that used her slate to cease its activity, and the beast began to glow at my own touch.” One of the elders scoffed in amazement, readjusting his glasses. 

“What is it you plan to do with control over that abhorrent creature?” Another elder piped up. “Yes, if you plan to travel with this beast as your steed, how do you expect it wont go berserk again?” Sidon perked up, more than happy to mention his partnership with the Hylian. 

“Link is the one with the slate that can calm it. She’s done it twice before, it shall not happen again.” 

“So you’re taking the Hylian with you. You’ve become awfully close to hi-...her.” Sidon interjected to the elder. 

“Yes, I have. She means a great deal to me, and if it wasn't for her bravery we would not be where we are today.” This statement quieted the group for a moment, and the council shared equally bemused gazes. 

“I’ve a question, son.” Sidon looked up at his towering father. 

“Hm?” The king looked at the outdated map of Hyrule that lay on the table the council was crowded around, its buildings and checkpoints still lay carefully painted upon the page, as if it were a snapshot of a better time. “That beast is...large to say the least. How do you expect to not leave a trail of destruction behind you?” Sidon looked to the map as well, thinking to himself for a moment.

“Well, I suppose we’d have to be a bit strategic about it, mapping out less dense areas for treks, but as a safe haven I believe it to be imperative to the safety of both Link and myself.” An elder jeered, huffing at a thought.

“Where are you to sleep at night, young prince?” Sidon chuckled bluntly, and gave him a straight answer. 

“In Vah Ruta, where else?” The king laughed along with his son. 

“You plan to  _ furnish  _ that thing? You’re out of your mind, Sidon.”

He shrugged, knowing that the comfort of Vah Ruta won't be perfect, but to have Link with him will be good enough. “I just need to tell Link, I’m not exactly sure how she’d feel about travelling alongside me for such a long period of time, frankly.” 

The king looked down on the prince, narrowing his gaze at him. 

“Oh, she’ll agree, don't worry.” Sidon furrowed, confused. 

“What do you mean, father?” The kind king chuckled.

“Have you seen how she looks at you, Sidon? The Hylian adores you, just like everyone else in the domain. When you came to me asking for my blessing to tame the divine beast, she would not tear her eyes from you.” Sidon bit his lip, thinking back to that moment. 

“Are you sure it wasn't because she was nervous? Father, I love you dearly, but you’re quite intimidating.” The king quirked a large eyebrow. 

“I’m aware, I've not made eye contact with one Zora child without them bursting into fearful tears at my stature.” He sighed heavily, trying to get his point across without being too blunt. “Call it a hunch, I just believe her to be quite...enraptured by you.” Sidon averted his gaze to the floor, zoning out a bit at the thought. 

“Well, regardless of what you think, I wish to tell her my plans in private, and I do hope you won't bring them up at dinner, please.” Dorephan rolled his eyes.“Yes, sir.” he said sarcastically. 

“I believe I actually need to go get her, she’s been in the nurses center for a while now.” Muzu gestured his hand to shoo the prince away. 

“Yes, go on, we’ve more pressing things to discuss.” He gave a polite half-bow, and walked out of the room, leaving the group to continue their banter. 

As Sidon walked back to the nursing center, he felt himself more optimistic than ever before. Whether it was the freedom of his people, the thought of traveling Hyrule, or the thought of traveling Hyrule with Link, he couldn't seem to pinpoint, but he was happy. 

He politely knocked on the nursing center door, hearing a muffled nurse Laryan give a "Yes!" from the other side. Sidon entered, and his eyes fell immediately to Link who was sitting in one of the bowl shaped chairs that were lined along the walls. Her expression lit up, and she smiled brightly at his entrance. 

"Prince!" Sidon looked admiringly at the Hylian, walking over to the two. 

"Hello there, friend! How's your arm?" Link looked to the healer and back to Sidon. 

"It's nothing more than a bruise, a nasty bruise, but a bruise nonetheless. I gave her some topical painkiller and it seems to be numbing the pain quite nicely." Laryan said proudly, holding her arms behind her back and talking with her chin up. 

"Want to see it? It's pretty gross." Sidon stifled a laugh, glancing at the sleeve of her jacket. "Yes, let's see it." She slid her jacket off, showing off a dark purple and black bruise that covered a lot of the area next to her elbow, and the prince physically winced at the wound. 

"Ouch! Friend, how did you bear the pain for that Iong?" Link shrugged, looking the large splotch that was imprinted on her otherwise pale skin. 

"I guess I wasn't really thinking about it. Now i'm  _ really  _ not thinking about it, my arm is super numb because of that cream." Sidon gave the Hylian an expression of relief. 

"I'm just glad you're not in pain, Link." She wiggled at bit at his comforting words, smiling and looking into his eyes.

"Thank you."

"We'll get going soon, okay?" The Hylian nodded, and Sidon looked to the nurse, who was writing in what the prince was assumed was Link's patient file. "Excuse me, Laryan, may I have a word?" She looked up at the prince, nodding before setting her leather bound notepad in her pocket. He ushered her over to the chalkboard in the room, and began speaking in hushed tones. "An incident that will go without naming have that occurred with Norwila." 

Laryan looked at him with a knowing expression. 

"Was it like last time? With the couple?" Sidon nodded. 

"He's refused to be swayed to even apologize or change his actions at all. It may not come as a surprise that I've relieved him, as he is unfit to care for his patients." Laryan nodded, looking to the ground in thought. "That being said, we now have no head of medical. I could think of no better than yourself to take that title." She fixated a frantic expression to the prince, speaking above her normally quiet tone.

" _ Me?  _ Y...you think to move  _ me _ to the head of medical?" Sidon laughed at her amazement. 

"Oh come, you know you're more than qualified. Your dedication to the cause is quite outmatched in the domain. You're a role model, Laryan, one of which that will inspire generations of doctors to come." She stared at the ground in amazement. 

"Well. I suppose I'll have to move my office now... and appoint a new nursing instructor." Sidon furrowed his brows at her vacant stare. 

"Are you alright? You don't have to take-" she interrupted, still half staring at the floor. 

"No, no prince. I'm actually ecstatic at this news, i'm just...wow, today has been quite the eventful one!" Sidon shifted his gaze to Link, who turned her head from him just as he moved his sights to her. 

"Yes it has." He sighed contentedly, glancing back to the doctor. "Well, Doctor Laryan, I thank you dearly for assisting the both of us." She shook her head, dumbfounded. 

"’ _ Doctor’ _ ...it's going to take a bit to get used to that one. You’re quite welcome, Prince Sidon." The prince smiled politely and walked over to the Hylian. “Hey, are you ready to go, Link?” Link nodded, rubbing her hand on her arm leisurely. “I can't feel it there. At all.” Sidon chuckled as she got herself up, and the two began walking. “I believe that’s the point, Link.” They walked out to the domain’s corridor, the sunset was teasing the horizon as the celebrating and crowding zora were diminishing from the domain’s center. The air was warm, and somewhat humid.

”I think you'll find the dining hall to be quite lovely.” Link cocked her head to the side. 

“Dining hall?” Sidon nodded. “Yes, the royal dining hall is for festivals, political events, what have you. It’s been quite some time since we’ve used it, but because of the days events, we certainly do have a reason.” 

“Who’s gonna be there?” Sidon mused. 

“Most likely the elder council and my father.” Link slumped, the idea of being around so many people who knew her before the calamity made her uneasy, but she felt safe enough with the prince by her side. 

“Are you going to tell me about why Vah Ruta never moved from the reservoir?” Sidon clicked his fingernails together nervously, not wanting to reveal his idea before dinner. 

“I will, I promise you, okay?” Link narrowed her big blue eyes at the prince carefully. “Now, lets eat, shall we?” He stood still in front of a long, white and gold door, and pulled the shining handle. A cool breeze came in from the hall, and an enormously long dark blue granite table was set with the king at the far end, and the elder council sitting near him. Blue crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling that reflected blue-ish light off of the creamy white tiling of the floor. “I know, it's intimidating.” Link looked around in awe, taking in the impressive masonry that lined the wall in gold accentuated lines across the whole room and the architecture of the white stone pillars that were jutting out of the walls sides. Link stayed close to Sidon, and sat next to him in a large wooden chair almost too big for her to pull out from under the table. The king looked from the group of elders that he was speaking with and saw the two taking their own seats. The king looked up from his chair at the two, and spoke.

“The Hylian who saved our domain! How are you feeling?” She nodded before realizing that she should probably use her words, and spoke. 

“I’m much better!” The food in front of her was set in a feast. Breads, meats, plates of root vegetables, crab cakes. She grabbed a lot of everything and set them on the silver plate in front of her and began trying to eat normally, even if her voracious hunger was telling her to eat like a barbarian. 

“Sidon,” the king began, “Did you ever ask Link about us using that map?” Sidon set his fork down and wiped his face with a handkerchief. 

“Yes, actually, Link, my father and the council were hoping to get some information from you about the world outside so that they can have a better start trading.” Link thought for a moment, chewing a large chunk of meat she couldn't identify. 

“What do you want to know?” One of the elders, a wrinkling black and white Zora spoke up. 

“We want to know what’s left of Hyrule.” She quirked an eyebrow, swallowing her food. 

“What’s left? Kakariko is being rebuilt. Actually, here Sidon-” She wiped her hands off on a handkerchief and brought out her Sheikah slate, shaking it on and examining the quasi real-time map of Hyrule. “Could you help me show this to them?” Sidon nodded, blushing lightly as she looked at him just as he voraciously ripped a bite of bread from a large dinner roll. Link and Sidon both got up and moved to Muzu, who was glaring grumpily at the screen. 

“What am I to do with this? Do you not have a map made of something other than... _ this _ ?” The two sighed quietly, before Link spoke. “Do you have a map I could write over?” Muzu grumbled, his plate had nothing but one single piece of untouched meat on it, and he pushed it aside dismissively. 

“I do, but I do not want you tarnishing it!” The king interjected, his voice causing everyone to look to him. 

“Muzu, that map is archaic. Let the girl fix it.” He snarled, reluctantly pointing to a scroll that lay near the king’s seat. The two that were previously crouched over near Muzu’s chair got up to grab the scroll, and Link unrolled the map. It was old, thick and yellowing and cracked on the edges, and deep black ink was intricately tracing the buildings that once laid quaintly across Hyrule field. 

“No, I can safely say it doesn't look like this anymore.” She mumbled to herself, and looked to the prince. “Do you have a pen?” Sidon looked around. 

“No, I’m afraid I do not! Mu-” The elder grumbled, interrupting the prince. 

“Yes, yes, here.” He over dramatically plopped a wood grained pen down in the prince’s hand, and he gently and carefully set the pen down in the Hylian’s palm. The two moved back to their seats and Link moved her food aside, looking at the map and drawing where things are significantly different on the other map. 

She circled places that seemed to have people, and where settlements and stables were. 

“You need any help, friend?” Link absentmindedly shook her head no, and continued scribbling. “Say, father, what do you plan to do with this information?” The king’s eyes gleamed, excited about the future of Zora’s trading system. 

“Well, we need to set up completely new routes, do we not? Things have been flooded and destroyed since the Calamity.” Link laughed dryly to herself. 

“Yes they have.” She noticed she was crossing out more ruins than there were towns at all, even she thought there was more established life than what seemed to remain. She noticed a completely closed off forest, a mountain that didn’t appear to be erupting in the older version of the map, ruins of entire trading outposts, it all seemed very overwhelming. 

“I’m not sure if I can finish this until later tonight.” Sidon pouted. 

“You don’t have to do all of it if you don’t want to.” She moved her gaze from the map to the prince, his glowing yellow eyes looked so beautiful in any light. 

“Ah, I do want to though! It seems really important, I want to help!” She beamed a smile at him, and he smiled back. 

“If you insist. Would that be okay with you Muzu?” He grumbled from across the table.

“Just don't break my pen.” Link nodded, and brought a bite of bread to her mouth. 

“Where am I going to sleep tonight, Prince Sidon?” The prince’s chewing slowed, and he looked to the girl. 

“I...hadn’t thought of that, I'm terribly sorry, friend! We have a hotel here you can stay at if you wish!” Link’s ear fluttered a bit, and she tilted her head in confusion. 

“If I wish? I have a choice?” Sidon chuckled. 

“Of course you have a choice, you’re our guest, Link!” Sidon glanced to his father and saw that he was rolling his eyes at the prince, to which he gave the king a questioning glare. 

Thoughts began nagging at Link in the back of her head _,_ she could only think of herself curled up next to the prince, and she felt so strange for it. She shook her head free of the thoughts, and responded. 

“I liked where I slept last night, but I don't want to steal your blanket again.” Sidon chuckled, looking at her in disbelief. 

“You want to sleep on the  _ floor _ again?” Link looked left and right, and back to the prince. “Is that strange?” Sidon changed his expression into an empathetic one. 

“Are you used to sleeping on the ground?” Link nodded, knowing that she's slept on very comfortable beds in her adventures, yet she just wanted to be somewhere where she feels closer to Sidon. The prince sighed flatly. 

“Well, I suppose we could go there after this so you could finish that map, and I wouldn't mind watching you work on it! That would work out nicely, don't you think?” Link nodded, before grabbing another bite of mystery meat. She was just looking forward to being alone with Sidon again, as he had been more fidgety than usual for the past few hours. Tapping his foot, rocking his jaw and barely touching his food. 

"Aren't you going to eat more, prince? You look nervous." Sidon shot his gaze at Link, and shook his head. 

"I'm sorry, I've quite a lot on my mind, friend!" He casually grabbed a forkful of salty meat and bit into it. "Trust me, It's not that I'm not hungry, i'm just distracted." The Hylian twirled her fork between her fingers. 

"What's on your mind, Sidon?" The prince smirked at the girl, and asked her politely. 

"If you're finished, do you think we could head to the hobby room? I wish to speak of something in private." She furrowed her brow, and cocked her head. 

"O-okay, of course, prince." The two politely stood, and the king billowed from across the table. "When you finish what you can with that map, just set it here in the dining hall for me." The prince nodded, giving another half-bow. 

"Good night, father!' The king chuckled. 

"Good night you two!" 

The night air was still humid, and the welcoming sound of crickets chirruped in the air as sunset fireflies danced around the domain. 

"Oh goodness, I haven't heard that noise since I was a child!" The prince held a hand to his face, his eyes observing the curious yellow glowing bugs that fluttered around the domain. Link giggled, looking at Sidon's amazed expression barely illuminated by the starlight. 

"You should see Kakariko at night. It's so beautiful." Link could see his glowing eyes look right at her, and just like every other time, it made her heart melt, and she felt the air rush out of her chest. 

"Are you okay, Link?" She gulped, and nodded her head at the prince, wishing she could tell him how beautiful he looked. The prince spoke in a low and velvety tone, quietly among the chirping crickets. "Shall we go?" She nodded, and the two walked to the dark hobby room.

Sidon pulled the door open, gesturing the Hylian inside, and as soon as he shut the door behind him, Link looked up at him as he walked to turn the luminous stones on. 

"What's going on, Sidon? I'm really worried about you." The Hylian set her bag down, as he shook one of the luminous stones and moved to the other.

"I'm so sorry, Link, I suppose I just haven't had a moment of respite with you to explain myself." He flicked the other stone, and set it gently in its sconce. The prince plopped down in his chair, and motioned for the girl to come closer. "It could also be because I' m afraid of what the answer will be when I ask you." Link pouted impatiently. 

"You know you can ask me anything, Prince Sidon." The prince winced, and asked. 

"May I accompany you in your efforts to destroy Calamity Ganon?" 

Link's heart did flips in her chest. "You…" She jumped up and down for joy, running up to and shaking the nervous prince by his shoulders.

" _ Yes! Yes, you goofy man! Of course you can!"  _ She grabbed him into a hug, ignoring her anxiety, and the prince found himself immediately hugging her back, holding onto her tightly as she shook with excitement in his arms. 

"Oh dear, you're shaking. Are you okay?" She gripped him even tighter in response, and he squeezed back in kind. 

"You really want to come with me?!" Sidon made an expression of surprise at the girl. 

"Of course I do! Freeing my sister's spirit and liberating my people has made me realize how imperative it is that I continue. You and I could not have tamed that beast apart, but we did it together! We  _ did  _ and if we could do that, then we can tame the rest!" Link looked at the prince in amazement, and his expression was beyond ecstatic. 

"I feel like I could do anything when i'm with you, Prince Sidon!" The prince pulled her into another hug, and the two kept holding on, enjoying their embrace. 

"Goddess above, you make me feel invincible, Link." Sidon held her tenderly in his arms, blushing a bluish green and rubbing her back with a thumb.


	13. You're a hard person to say no to.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon and Link read a book, and begin taking steps toward leaving the domain!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I switch perspectives for a few paragraphs in the middle of this one, youll know it when you read it!

After what felt like a full minute in the embrace, the Hylian reluctantly pulled back from his grip, and looked into his eyes once more, falling deeper for him than she thought possible. 

Link shyly darted her eyes to the ground and stepped back, sitting on the floor near the prince and pulling out her Shiekah slate and the ancient map to attempt to modernize it. "I've also something else that you may or may not consider important." She quirked her head at the prince. "

What’s that?" The prince thoughtfully leaned in before smiling at the girl. 

“I am Vah Ruta’s champion now.” Link looked at the prince in amazement, her jaw fell open in surprise. 

“You  _ what?  _ Prince, you’re saying you can control Ruta? _ ”  _ Sidon nodded enthusiastically. 

“I wish for it to be both our of place of residency and our own mode of transportation! If that’s alright with you, of course!” 

“H...how did you gain control over it?!” Sidon inhaled to speak, his hands balled into fists of determination.

“Apparently, as my sister told me, the beast chooses its champion by willpower. She had me press my hand into its...what was it? Console? And it glowed to my touch! Mipha had originally told me she was going to set Vah Ruta to aim at Ganon, but I refused, and insisted that I take over in her stead!” Link thought, looking at the map on her slate.

“We just have to be careful about where we take it, I don't want to scare anyone with it.” She continued her thought process, thinking of Ashai who told her of a divine beast that lay on the side of Death Mountain. “We could potentially use Vah Ruta to get the beasts into better positions to tame, as well. One is on the side of Death Mountain, and the other is in the air.” The princes eyes widened.

“There’s one in the sky?”

“Mhm! If you stand at just the right spot from Kakariko or anywhere in Hyrule field you can see it. It's definitely intimidating, that's for sure.” The prince eyed the map along with her as she scribbled spots that were too hazardous to travel across. 

“I’m really glad you’re coming with me. I hadn't even gotten used to the idea of leaving the domain.” Sidon smiled earnestly at the girl. 

“I was so afraid you’d say no. I don't believe you give yourself enough credit, Link. You already tamed one without my help.” Link shook her head. 

“No, I mean…nevermind.” She giggled nervously at the prince, afraid of telling him how she felt about being apart from him."What do you plan to bring?"

He chuckled. "What  _ don't  _ I plan to bring? A medical kit, most likely a rug or two, some bare essential furnishings." She beamed happily, the thought of basically moving in with Prince Sidon was so overwhelming. "It's not very comfortable as it is, I'm sure you're aware. It's ground is like sandpaper." 

"Are you going to bring your sewing bag?" Sidon quirked an eyebrow and looked to the closet behind him, the dimly lit room was filled with loose yarn and various bags of projects from the half open door. 

"I do plan to! You really like watching me sew, don't you, Link?" She smiled at his quiet, loving tone. Link couldn't get enough of his voice. 

"Of course I do! Watching you sew is so comforting to me, Prince. You get so focused and it's so interesting to watch." She spoke as she scribbled around the ruined patches of wetlands near Lanyru.

"I feel much the same way watching you update that map, you know." Link rolled her eyes at the prince, huffing as she scribbled out a typo. 

"Prince, I write like a child. Look at this, I misspelled the word 'river'." She pointed at a place on the old map that had a small chunk scribbled over. He examined it more thoroughly, and could see the word ‘rivar’ and tried not to burst out laughing. 

"That doesn't mean I can't find you equally comforting!" He stifled a laugh at her, to which she pouted in response. "Oh come, don't be so grumpy, you're doing fantastically! I love your handwriting!" She scoffed playfully.

"Okay, now I  _ know  _ you're lying! My handwriting is awful! Have you ever seen someone write the letter e like this?! " The prince began laughing heartily at her, holding a hand over his mouth, and she began giggling as well. Sidon wiped the tears of laughter from his face, watching the girls pouting expression from the comfort of the rocking chair. 

"Goodness Link, you're…" He paused, hesitating a bit. "You're...going to be a wonderful traveling companion." Link pressed her lips together, having noticed his pause. 

“Something on your mind, prince? He shook his hand dismissively. 

“No, I'm alright, just excited, is all!” The prince rotated one of his cuffs idly, and looked at her once more. “You can just call me Sidon, if you would prefer.” Link looked up from the map, as he had fully grabbed her attention with that sentence.

“Would  _ you  _ prefer that?”

“Yes, I would!” He smiled brightly at the girl. “I have the pleasure of getting to be your consort, the least I could have you do is drop the formalities.” He contently rocked on the wooden chair, sighing comfortably as Link blushed from feeling that much closer to Sidon. 

“Okay, Sidon.” The prince shot back up from his comforted position. 

“Hah, see? Doesn't that feel better?” Link nodded and glanced down, hiding her flushing cheeks. “I did ask my father for his blessing to leave the domain, and he wholeheartedly agreed, much to my own surprise.” He rested his hands on his knees, leaning over to watch her scribble on the large map. “I would venture to say we can depart on your go, as I don't really mind.” 

Link stopped writing for a moment.

“We could start packing tomorrow.” Sidon’s smile grew to his cheeks, and he inhaled sharply to speak to the Hylian.

“It might take more than a day to be fully prepared to leave, but after tomorrow morning’s trek, I’d love to! I’ll have to be sure to get you your own mattress, so that you’re no longer sleeping on the floor...or in my favorite blanket.” Link pouted playfully, her eyes shooting to the prince’s gaze.

“I love the blanket! I want to sleep with the blanket!” She giggled at his exasperated expression.

“You’re going to make me forfeit my favorite blanket?” She started laughing at his defeated look.

“Sidon! You can just say  _ no!  _ You don’t have to let me have it!” Sidon’s crushed expression was still on his face. 

“Link, I hate to tell you this, but you’re a hard person to say no to.” She frowned playfully.

“Just do it! Or else I’ll have it and you won't! Why can't you say no to me? It’s so easy!” Sidon pouted, hiding his face with his hands.

“You’re just...I very much like seeing you happy! When you’re happy, I’m happy!” Link blushed, squeezing the pen in her hand and looking up at the stern looking prince, his cheeks were still hidden by his hands. She paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. 

“I really like seeing you happy too, Sidon. I’ll still be okay if you tell me no, because everything you do makes me happy.” The prince moved his hands, his face flushed as much as hers, and he smiled genuinely at the Hylian. “I mean it! This is the happiest I’ve been since I can remember! You just...you make me feel so normal.” Sidon cocked his head, and spoke in an earnest tone.

“Link, you are an outstanding, caring person beyond what words could compare, but you most certainly deserve to feel normal.” Link teared up a little bit, smiling at his earnest expression.

“See? You’re doing it again.” She giggled along with Sidon and wiped a tear from her cheek. “You can keep your blanket, I just like being a brat.”

“I know, and forgive me for saying this, but it’s-...I like it.” The Hylian’s ear twitched curiously as she blushed even further.

“You  _ like _ when I’m being a-” Sidon interrupted her, holding a hand to his own mouth as he spoke.

“How’s the drawing going along?” He frantically shot his gaze from the map to the girls bemused expression. “I can see the map looks quite filled by now!” Link pouted at the man, but hesitantly dropped the subject. She’d never seen him act this strange before.

“I guess. The whole thing is pretty depressing, now that im nearly done and actually looking at it.” Sidon craned his head to look at the scribbled over map. X’s were drawn everywhere, and circles with “ _ do not cross _ ” or “ _ broken bridge”  _ were peppered where there once was teeming life. “May I ask something? There’s a place in this map that’s really weird.” The prince looked at her, and back to the map.

“Which place? I don't know much about the province as it stands, but I might know just a bit from general Hyrulean history.” The girl pointed at a large circular moat surrounding a gigantic forest, labelled “ _ Great Hyrule Forest.” _ “Hm. Hyrule Forest, I actually do not know much about the Koroks other than a few little tidbits, the forest itself is quite volatile and people who go inside are said to never come back.” Link’s eyes widened in fear, and her nostrils flared. “That’s just folklore, though! If there’s something to know, it’s most likely in the archive.”

Link thought of the archive, remembering Sidon saying he was going to take her there in their free time. “There’s a  _ forest  _ in the middle of a giant ring of water with mystical spooky folklore and you’re telling me you  _ never _ looked into it? It sounds  _ amazing!”  _ The prince laughed at the determined look on her face.

“When you put it the way you do, it  _ does  _ sound worth reading about. Are you tired at all?” She grinned wildly and bounced slightly on the pillow that sat on the floor.

“Are you asking if I want to go to the archives to read about it? Because yes, I would love to do that.” The prince smiled affectionately at the Hylian’s joy. “I am done with the map, so…”

“Then it’s settled!” He stood, waiting as Link excitedly popped up from her seat and stood next to him, grinning up at him eagerly.

"Oh! One second!" The Hylian grabbed her bottle from her bag and rubbed her treatment under her shirt, and shot back up to greet him. The two shared admiring glances, and Sidon took the lead out of the hobby room.

The night was pitch black, and the faint glow of starlight illuminated the walls around them. 

“Can you see? Should I get the two of us a torch, perhaps?” Link looked up at the prince, his intimidating shadowy outline was pitch black save for his glowing eyes.

“I think I can make it! I just gotta follow really close to you.” Link could see Sidon's beaming smile, even in the near-pitch dark. 

“I don’t mind that at all.” The two walked carefully among the roaring waters of the falls that spilled over the domain, and the night air felt more warm and inviting than it had when the rain was rampant in the town. The prince opened the the two coral blue doors of the archive, and motioned politely for Link to go before him. A warmth radiated from the archive, the lights were glowing a hypnotic hue of blue from the luminous stone that sat in the large, hanging chandelier. The archive was empty, and though it was dwarfed by the opulent dining hall, it was still intimidating in its beauty.

The prince led the girl to a corner, and lifted a hand to a line of dark green books.

"These are the Hylian archives, let's actually see if we have anything on Koroks" he thumbed through an old book, it's cover was dusted and devoid of any words. The Hylian took a seat at a nearby table, and patiently waited for the prince. 

"Wow, that is interesting." Link perked up, lazily laying her arms on the table in front of her. 

"What is? Come here so we can read it, silly!" Sidon tore his gaze from the book, looking apologetically to the Hylian.

"Ah! I'm sorry, it's just so tempting!"

She patted the other end of the booth, gesturing for him to sit next to her. He plopped his large frame next to the girl, and she could feel the comforting warmth that radiated off his body as he moved his finger to a place in the tome, and began reading to the girl. 

"Upon Hylia's founding, a curious dugout was discovered in the north of the province. What has been duly named Great Hyrule Forest has only ever been properly explored by a handful of adventurers successfully, as it's very nature seems to defy logic. Its twists and turns appear to the naked eye to bend in on themselves and loop back at odd locations in the forest, spelling demise for many, and the ones who make it back consider themselves lucky to have their lives."

Link looked in awe at Sidon as he paused to look at her quaintly "I suppose I was just as confused as they were." Sidon moved to continue reading, and Link found herself scooting closer to the prince, eventually brushing arms with him as he read. The prince seemed to not notice as he continued reading from a different segment.

"As records stretch far, it's been found that throughout the ages the manifestation of guardian spirits reincarnate as millennia pass by. The spirit of the forest, the guardian spirit of Farore is consistently named the Great Tree, or Great Deku Tree. The tree bears relation to the Hylian line, as its own manifestation created their predecessors, the Kokiri." Link shot up and glared at the book and back to Sidon.

"I'm related to a  _ tree?"  _

Sidon cracked up before clarifying.

"I believe it implies Farore used the tree as a sort of conduit? I'm not entirely sure, let's keep going." Link sighed happily, as she listened to Sidon's voice keep her undivided attention throughout their impromptu history lesson.

**\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

As Sidon continued reading, he noticed a weight slump against his arm, accompanied by the sound of soft snoring. He stopped mid-sentence and glanced to Link, who appeared to be resting her head on him. Her golden hair was draped over his forearm, and shined healthily in the only light in the archive. 

The prince blushed, closing the book quietly and thinking of a plan of action. She looked so peaceful, taking heavy, full breaths in a deep sleep. How she managed to sleep so soundly while in such a position baffled the prince. He gently grabbed her legs, and wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulders to hold her properly as he slid himself out of the seat, standing carefully to not wake her, and began walking to the hobby room. No matter how many times Sidon seemed to jostle her or accidently shake her, she still was curled comfortably in his arms as he pulled the door open carefully to the outside. As he walked her to the hobby room, he could feel her small frame stretch slightly and nuzzle up against his chest. 

He could feel her head shift as he opened the door to the hobby room, and he feared that he woke her in her slumber. He looked down to see her completely asleep, mouth open, with her ear twitching slightly, and the prince repressed a laugh at the adorable girl.

The prince looked down at the blanket on the floor, his heart breaking at the idea of putting her on the cold ground to sleep that night. He decided that if he was going to set her down somewhere, it would be his bed, and he would sleep on his rocking chair. 

He opened the door to his chambers that laid on the far end of the hobby room, his dark purple walls were adorned in old Zora relics, including various bones, decorative shells, and a pair of crossed ancient spears above his bedpost. He was greeted by the glow of the polished luminous stone orb lamps set up to give the room a nice blue shade, and his gigantic water bed that fit his form and then some.

He carefully set the girl down, with her head laying softly on his pillow, and he could see her eyebrows crease into an aggravated expression as she was forced away from the prince’s warm chest.  _ By the goddess, you are a brat, you know that?,  _ Sidon thought to himself, as he studied the girl’s peaceful expression as she slept. He noticed her small blonde eyebrows, her thick eyelashes, and her cute, pouty nose and sighed contentedly.

She stirred, shifting comfortably and flipping over to her side. He walked out of his room, and quietly shut the door behind him. 

As he sat down in his favorite chair, he could think of nothing but the mental image of standing in the tamed Vah Ruta next to his best friend as the beast walked them through the greenery of Hyrule fields. He’d never experienced anything as exciting as this situation in his life. He had mostly spent his life either studying for being a political ambassador, knitting, or practicing swordplay, as being trapped in the domain led him to no options otherwise. 

He balled one hand into a fist as he rocked restlessly in his chair, thinking back to earlier in the day. He had almost called Link cute right to her face several times, and he couldn't stand the thought of making her think less of him for how he had been recently feeling. 

He felt so attracted to her, the way she shyly moves her eyes from his gaze when he tells her how wonderful she is, the mental clarity that he gets from just having her near him, the overwhelming urge to ensure her happiness, not to mention how stunning she looks to him.

The prince was used to making people feel safe, and happy. He was used to being cordial, and it was in his nature, yet when it came to Link he would put everything down to see her smile, or hear her laughter.  _ Oh, goddess, her laughter,  _ he thought to himself, how she snorted and immediately covered her mouth afterwards was absolutely  _ precious  _ to him, and how the tips of her ears grew red when she's frustrated or flattered. He sighed, staring at the ceiling and rocking nervously. He opened up so easily to the girl, he’d never even told anyone about the thing’s he’s opened up to her about in mere days. The prince wasn't used to this feeling, he just wanted to spend all of his time with her, but soon he would be doing nothing but staying in the company of the girl he had such strong feelings for. 

_ How will I be able to not tell her? I cannot control my tongue half of the time around her, she makes me feel so light and confident, who’s to say I won't slip up and ruin everything?  _ He bit his lip nervously as he thought, accidentally drawing a bit of blood and sighing frustratingly.  _ She makes me so happy.  _ The prince felt sparks of elation drift over him as he thought this to himself, and drifted away into a restless sleep along with his thoughts, his body slumping uncomfortably in his rocking chair .

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

He woke to a push on his arm, shooting up quickly to the sight of the bed-headded Hylian, her blonde hair sticking in all directions.

“Sidon, what happened last night? How did I get in your bed?” The prince rubbed the sleep from his eyes and smiled genuinely to the girl, she still looked adorably sleepy to the prince.

“Oh, Link! How did you sleep? Did you find the bed to your liking?” She pouted and narrowed her sleepy gaze at the prince. 

“Yeah, it was amazing, and really jiggly, but you slept on your chair?” The prince nodded flatly. 

“You fell asleep as I was reading, and I couldn't see myself waking you, so I carried you to my bed, I do hope that’s okay.”

“You...carried me? Was I snoring?” Sidon laughed, sarcasm glinted in his eyes.

“Oh, Link, you practically woke up half of the domain!” Her eyes widened, and she gave him a look of concern, and the prince tried not to crack up laughing. 

“Really?”

“No! Goodness Link, you were fine! You barely snore at all!” She looked at him angrily.

“So I  _ do _ snore!?” Sidon scoffed as he struggled to hold in his giggles.

“You do, but you’re as quiet as a mouse, I promise!” She playfully slapped his arm, smiling at him all throughout. She was so  _ cute  _ to Sidon when she was flustered like that. “Do you still plan to accompany me to Inogo bridge and back?” Link nodded sleepily.

“Of course I do, why would I stay behind? I miss the greenery, anyway.” Sidon nodded understandably, sitting himself up and getting out of his chair. 

“I completely get it, our culture is very fond of silvers and blues. I’ve grown to like it, to be honest.” Link nodded, tiredly shrugging as she clipped her crossbow to her back. Sidon yawned, grabbing the gleaming sheath of his rapier and affixing it to his belt. 

"Shall we go to the cafe? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hungry." Link nodded, swinging her bag around her shoulder. 

Link sipped her tea peacefully in the comfort of Hateno Huddle, and enjoyed the salty crab cakes that she couldn't get enough of.

"So, you just slept on the chair? Doesn't your back hurt, Sidon?" Sidon shook his head and sipped from his own cup, before setting it down on its coaster.

"I've fallen asleep on that chair more times than I can count! I'm quite used to it by now." He smiled brightly at the girl, her eyes studying him worriedly as she sipped her tea.

"If I ever fall back asleep out of nowhere again, please, where ever you plop my dumb unconscious body just make sure you're comfortable, too, promise?" Sidon smirked at Link's comment.

"Promise." 

She looked at her map with her Shiekah slate in one hand, the route to Inogo bridge looking easy enough for her to traverse. Sidon had slowly been noticing the girl talk more and more, and her expressiveness has only continued to grow as she's gotten used to being around him. He felt it to be such a beautiful transformation, being able to see her genuinely open up has been a gift for him.

"It should be a two hour excursion, most likely. That is if there truly are no more Lizalfos on the path." Link moved her gaze from her slate to the prince.

"This will be your first time seeing the outside since?..."

"Since ever." He smiled sadly at the girl "This is quite the step for me. Years of studying various cultures and being taught etiquette and customs outside of the Zora domain proper has prepared me for this."

"You won't be alone." Sidon looked up, a smile across his face. "Being taught in a school is one thing, but you get to experience Hyrule! I'll be with you every step of the way, Sidon!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Link." Her heart fluttered, she felt so beautiful when he said her name, and she felt her blood flush to her cheeks as he smiled, looking directly into her eyes.

“Come, im sure whatever scouting party has assembled to accompany us is waiting as we speak!” Link scooted her chair back, following the prince outside of the bustling cafe. 

The domain was busy, the Zora people roaming about excitedly as the first true morning light in so long shined down upon the corridors hallways. 

Link didn’t feel as nervous as she did when she had first come to Lanyru, the bustling people felt less hostile, and more welcoming. Maybe it was her imagination, or maybe her worth had been proven to the Zora people for taming Vah Ruta. Sidon led the girl to the Great Zora Bridge, and he held the whistle that was affixed to his ascot. He gave it three, succinct blows and looked quaintly at the Hylian. Within a minute, a small group of seven Zora scouts appeared from across the bridge, and lined themselves up in front of the prince. 

“Good morning everyone! I hope you are all as ready to make history as I am, as we will be making the first scouting trip to Inogo Bridge since the calamity!” The group gave a nearly simultaneous “yes, sir!”

“Are you ready to go, Link? We’ll be walking the trail for a little while.” The girl nodded, smiling as she rested an arm comfortably on her swords’ handle that lay snugly fitted in its sheath. The group began walking, with Sidon and Link heading the front. The two could hear the group of scouts talking and joking amongst themselves, making idle conversation as they traveled along with them. Sidon looked over.

“How’s your arm? I do hope it’s no longer bothering you.” Link pressed her hand to the bruise, and it stung slightly when she applied pressure to it. 

“I can ignore it, yesterday it hurt so badly.” Sidon pouted sadly at the girl as she eyed her aching arm.

“I’m sorry. I’m glad Doctor Laryan could help! She’s very much deserving of her position, as are most of the scholarly types that roam the corridor.” Link stuck out her tongue as she pressed the wound, wincing slightly. “Link, why are you doing that? It looks painful.”

“Sorry! I just want it to stop hurting.” Sidon frowned sadly.

“It’s not going to stop hurting if you keep poking at it, what are you hoping to gain by doing that?” She giggled, and her smile quickly sobered.

"I just hope it doesn't leave a mark." Sidon sighed, listening to the draining rainwater that was rushing across the muddy trail.

"You mustn't be fond of battle scars, hm?" She shook her head flatly, her eyes looking to the wet ground on which they walked.

"Not on me. I can't even wear my Gerudo outfit anymore." Sidon gave her an inquisitive look. 

"Gerudo outfit? I thought you only had one set of clothing." She shook her head, somewhat embarrassed that she brought it up in the first place.

"It was...the first set of girl clothes i've ever worn. I don't think id be comfortable wearing it anymore because of the scars on my stomach, now." Sidon's heart sank at her ridicule of herself. 

“When you say Gerudo outfit, you do mean with the traditional sirwal and top, yes?” She nodded.

“Yeah, and the veil, but I kind of like showing my face now. I used to be afraid to, but now, not so much.” The thought of Link wearing the traditional Gerudo outfit made him exhale audibly, and he could only imagine how breathtakingly beautiful she would look in it.

“I don't mean to tell you that what you feel is wrong, but, I think you would look wonderful all the same. The Gerudo by and large are fierce and steadfast, the scars would only compliment that, don’t you think?” He balled his hands into fists, looking at her with optimistic determination. The Hylian's ears drooped in response, her head sinking her gaze to the ground once more. 

“I wish I felt the same way, Sidon.” His expression wavered, and his shoulders slumped in defeat at her monotone speech.

“One day you will, and I’ll be right by your side when it happens, understood?” She nodded, feeling her cheeks blush at his insistence. 

All at once, the bushes on the left of the trail began to shake violently, and Sidon instinctively held his arm out keep Link from walking further, accidentally knocking her in the chest. Link recoiled at the surprising pain that she felt in her breasts, holding her arm around herself and confusedly wincing. 

As the bushes shook, a deer leapt from its green leaves, and stared at the group in confusion, before leaping away across the trail.

"Ow. Ow. Ouch." Link winced, feeling like she was bitten by a keese.

"Ah! Link I'm sorry! I thought that was a Lizalfos, did I hit you too hard?" She shook her head, standing up straight and shaking the feeling off. 

"You barely even hit me at all, i'm just um…" she blushed, the words failing to exit her mouth at her realization. "sensitive there now, I guess." Sidon returned her blush with his own.

She shyly moved her hand down her shirt away from the princes gaze, and felt hard bumps where her nipples were. They hurt badly to the touch, but she felt a rush of euphoria at their progress.

"Are you bleeding?" She smiled at the prince awkwardly, readjusting her shirt and catching up with his strides.

"No! I'm okay. It felt like I was, though." She paused, noticing the trail gradually became more green, and the wonderful grassy smell of Hyrule fields rushed through the air in the breeze. "You've seen a deer before, right?" Sidons lips pressed, and his eyes wandered.

"I've seen and heard  _ depictions  _ of deer, does that at all suffice?" Link smiled, his innocent tone making her feel a little sorry for him.

"It's good enough, It may take a while to get actually used to seeing wildlife, though."

"It looked very fluffy." He smiled innocently, and Link cracked up laughing at him.

"You're such a goof, Sidon." He chuckled along with her, blushing and admiring her beautiful smile. They continued walking the trail, the runoff of water began to lessen, and the ground became more solid as they continued.

Link looked up at the prince, his stature was rigid, on edge, and his eyes darted everywhere around him as they walked through the winding path of Tabahal woods.

“Sidon?-” The prince jumped at her questioning, startled by any noise that wasn't their own footsteps. “Are you okay?” Sidon kept his eyes out in the distance, looking for any sign of an ambush.

“Yes, my friend. It’s just my first time out this far from the domain.” Link smiled knowingly, her arm still set resting on the hilt of her sword.

A quick glance behind her and she could see it was much the same for the scouts, they held their weapons warily in small groups of two or three along the winding road, somewhat separated from what they were about an hour prior.

“Sidon, I think we’ll be okay, it’s really getting dry out here. Plus, you know how stupid Lizalfos are, I don’t think they’d be smart enough to perform a successful coup.” Sidon chuckled, glancing down at the girl quaintly.

“You are most likely right, my friend. But, they haven't always been this thick-headed. 

Since the calamity, they’ve become more barbaric.” Link’s eyes widened, she couldn't imagine them being any more than bloodthirsty fiends.

“How smart were they before the calamity?” Sidon thought, his countless days in the archives studying were long behind him.

“Smart enough to perform a coup, yet, they were so indifferent to us, they always had been. I believe if what some documents tell us, they actually do have a political system when they aren't...controlled.” 

The word  _ controlled  _ in regards to an entire race of people sent a shiver down Link’s spine, the cancerous influence of Calamity Ganon was like a virus that infected Hyrule at large.

“What do you think made them susceptible to Ganon’s corruption and not us?” Sidon shrugged. 

“Frankly, I've no idea. I know they don’t follow any religion that we know of, perhaps that has something to do with it. Hylians like yourself are considered close to the goddesses, and for that you may have some sort of aegis, just as much as the Zora perhaps do.” 

The two of them continued on, the murmuring of the soldiers behind them were pushing their steps forward, and they were met by the beautiful arch that surrounded the entrance to Inogo bridge. Sidon seemed to hold his breath as they walked under it. 

“See! You did it!” Sidon blushed, waving a hand bashfully at the girl. “We should keep going a bit more, the wetlands had a lot of Lizalfos encampments in them the last time I was here.”

Sidon nodded, eyeing the small Hylians determined look with admiration.

“Sometimes you make it  _ too  _ obvious that you were very important before the calamity.” Link twitched an ear curiously at the prince. 

“What makes you say that?” Sidon rocked his jaw in thought.

“You can be very forthright at times when you need to be. I swear, it’s like the flick of a luminous stone.  _ Poof _ . You’re ready for action!” She giggled a bit at the princes use of hand gestures to accentuate his point.

“So can you! I can vividly remember the look on your face when you fought that group of Lizalfos the other night. It’s etched into my mind, you were so  _ fierce! _ ” 

“Is that a good thing?” She nodded her head, smiling enthusiastically. “Well, The look on yours when you fought alongside me was equally frightening!” Link sobered, remembering how berzerk she had gotten, how she completely ignored the dull, bone-shattering freezing rain as she slaughtered any Lizalfos that threatened Sidon.

“I would have done anything to keep you from getting hurt. You were so close to...” She trailed off, her eyes grew distant in the thought of the night planning out much differently, and Sidon blushed as his lips parted in a look of surprise as her gaze embarrassingly moved from his.

“Hey, Link, I’m okay. I won’t fall to danger like that again. I know my safety is assured by your side.” She smiled, looking away from the prince as her heart sang at his praise.

“You make me feel safe too, Sidon.” They turned another corner, and were greeted by the warm looking pool of the wetlands that was dotted with green grass, and no Lizalfos were in sight. Sidon held his hand over his mouth in awe, the small slice of Hyrule that lay before him was beautiful in ways that he never knew possible. 

The leaves among the sparse trees danced in the wind along with the cattails and lily pads that rocked around peacefully in the marsh. The morning light shimmered across the wetlands shallow, clear water that reflected the dancing darners among its surface. 

The smell was fresh, green, something Sidon had never come close to even imagining.

“It’s...absolutely gorgeous.” Link followed close behind, and while the view was truly beautiful, the look that Sidon gave to the land of Hyrule was something akin to falling in love at first sight, and Link couldn't take her eyes off of him, feeling the same emotion herself. Link looked left and right, the encampments of Lizalfos had been snuffed out, yet they still left ugly reminders of their occupation of the beautiful land. Link smiled, and spoke.

"Welcome to Hyrule, Sidon." The prince fell to one knee in the dirt and hugged Link, grasping around her firmly.

"Thank you so much for giving me and my people this opportunity, this means so much to me." She squeezed back, she could hear the tremor in his voice, and she felt tears threaten to form under her eyes. 

"I couldn't have done it without you. You and your people deserve this, Sidon."

"Have I ever told you how amazing you are, Link?" He sniffled as he pulled back from the girl. Link set a tender hand on top of Sidon's shoulder, and gave him a genuine, loving look.

"Yes, but it's very nice coming from you." Sidon laughed as tears fell from his eyes, and he wiped one away.

"I've felt all my life like I was meant for so much more, and I believe this is it." Link blushed, and she felt her heart thumping blood quickly throughout her body.

"There's so much more to see, Sidon." Sidon sniffled again, smiling at the Hylians beautiful blue eyes.

"What say you, shall we head back and begin packing?" Link grinned ear to ear at him.

"I'd love nothing more, prince."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want them to date as much as you do, I promise.


	14. The age-old art of holding one's breath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sidon and Link begin packing their things, and unpacking their feelings.

"We are to return at once, and I will inform our people that we may roam freely once again! It appears the threat of the Lizalfos is no more!" The group of scouts laughed and smiled, and they began the uphill walk back up the domain. As the two quietly walked the trail, the chirps of birds coming by to create nests in the now dry trees that surrounded the roads filled the warm air with their songs. 

"I've never heard anything quite like that sound." Link smiled, nodding at him.

"Isn't it pretty? You can hear them the most in the mornings." Link quietly slid her Shiekah slate out of its clip, shaking it and aiming the camera to the prince. "Sidon."

"Hm?" He looked to her and smiled widely in embarrassment. "You mean to capture my likeness now?" Link frowned.

"You don't want me to?" Sidon beamed, putting on a dorkily handsome grin for the girl.

"If you must!" She snapped a picture of the prince, and she pressed her finger to the gallery. Link held out the slate's image to Sidon.

"Sidon! You look so happy!" The prince smiled at the girl, examining the image.

"I do look very happy." He squinted his sight on the picture. "My eyes are half open in it, i'm afraid." She cracked up, just realizing the same herself, and looked at it a bit longer. Even with his eyes half lidded mid-blink, the prince still took her breath away. She pressed the camera button, and snapped another of her standing next to the prince, eyeing him while still facing the camera.

  


As the group safely walked back to the Great Zora Bridge, it seemed like most of the Zora Domain was standing in wait for their return near the kings throne. Sidon cleared his throat as they approached, the large group of Zora along with King Dorephan's lumbering figure waited patiently for him to speak as they approached.

" _ The Zora people have waited long enough! The Lizalfos are gone! The domain is now safe to leave as you please!"  _ The crowd fell into uproar. Some Zora carrying bags began walking their way out eagerly, ready to see what lies ahead outside of the domain.

It was a bittersweet sight to the prince, and he could only hope that the chance to coexist with the rest of Hyrule will keep their spirits lifted, and their burdens left forgotten. 

As optimistic as this seemed, one hundred years of isolation felt like those burdens may linger among his people longer than he'd wish.

Sidon approached his father, Link tailing behind closely to the prince.

"I must say, Sidon. Seeing you walk back from that trail after being gone so long is quite a relief! How did it look?" The prince smiled warmly in thought of the wonderful green landscape outside of the domain, and he looked up at his father.

"Beautiful." He stated simply, looking at the Hylian who stood next to him, and Link felt as though he was talking directly to her. 

Link walked over to the king, and produced the old map and Muzus pen for him.

"I hope this is okay, your highness." The king chuckled, his eyes glinting as he remembered what the map was for. He unrolled the yellowing parchment carefully in his hands.

“Oh, come now, it should be-” his eyes darted across the map, and his expression fell. “I...I had no idea Hyrule was in such disrepair, but we can work with this; we have to.” 

“We have to start somewhere, right, father?” The king smiled sadly, shrugging and sighing as he looked over the intricacies of the newly updated map. 

“I suppose so. As disheartening as this map seems, it looks as if you’re more than ready to keep going. You are a hero not unlike your own mother. She would be proud of you.” Sidon smiled at his father's praise, his hands tucked neatly behind his back. 

“Thank you, it means a lot to hear you say so.” The king glanced from the map, and looked at the two.

“Speaking of which, when do you two plan to depart? I need to know when, so I can catch you as you leave.” Sidon rubbed his chin in thought, glancing down to Link. 

“If we can get ready enough by tonight, we could leave in the morning.” The king looked sadly at his son, and nodded. “Many people will come to visit, father. Including me, from time to time. I won't be gone forever, you know.”

“Oh, but you  _ know _ you’re the one that is skilled with fraternizing, I'm so awful with all of that discourse, Sidon.” The prince frowned, but playfully chuckled at his father's childish dismay.

“Don’t tell me that’s the only reason you keep me around!” The king laughed heartily.

“Among many, many other things, it  _ is  _ one of them, I can't lie to you. You know I'm no good at that either!” Sidon laughed, and he turned his head to Link, patiently waiting by the prince.

"Shall we begin packing? There's more than enough to take over by storage." Link nodded eagerly, ready to start their journey together as soon as possible.

“Do not let me keep you! I’ll either be here or in the archives if you need me.” Sidon smiled up at his father's sad smile, and nodded. 

“Thank you, father.” 

  


The two walked along the bridge to the main corridor, and Sidon lead them to a smaller, more rickety looking door near the east end. 

“Don’t let the door fool you-”, he swung the frail door open with ease, and its hinges squeaked in protest, “it’s actually quite the large room.” 

He knocked a nearby luminous stone to life, and gestured the girl inside. The room was musty. Old, mono color furnishings were crowding the space along with rough looking rugs rolled up in the corners. 

Dusty looking wooden boxes and bags were also littered among the pile. 

Link held her breath, it smelled old. 

“Woah, this is…” Sidon spoke up at her pause, stepping over a few chairs and nearly stumbling over. 

“Messy. I’m well aware.” He opened up a large crate, pulling out a few empty bags, along with some rope. “This is where people put, or rather, throw things away they’d care to forget, or simply have no use for any longer. The proposed idea was to use the unwanted items to help those in need, but we’ve only just now had the domain opened again.” 

He set aside the bags, looking over at the girl who was eyeing a comfortable, yet boring looking couch. “We can take anything we like! Anything that I can carry, anyway.” Link perked up, eyeing him suspiciously. 

“You’re going to carry these?” Sidon shook his head.

“Not all of them.” The Hylian raised her eyebrows at the Zora as he lifted a rug from the corner.

“How are you going to get any of them to Vah Ruta?” He looked at her dumbly.

“By swimming it up the reservoir!” She scoffed, some of the chairs and tables looked far too heavy for even him.

  


“Sidon, are you sure? You may get hurt.” He knitted his eyebrows in an expression of worry.

“I assure you, I'll be more than okay. Come.” He held a rug around each arm, and walked toward the door with minimal effort. 

Link followed hesitantly, hoping he wouldn't hurt himself. He used a rope to affix the rolled up woolen rugs to his back, and walked near the gigantic waterfall near the East Reservoir.

"I'll be back momentarily, I'm just going to set these near the dock at the reservoir, okay?" Link hesitantly nodded.

"Don't get hurt." Her dipped ears and sad expression tugged on his heartstrings.

"I'll be alright. Your worry for me makes me feel...so wonderful, Link. Thank you for caring so much." she pouted as her cheeks flushed red.

"Of course I worry about you, dummy. You're important to me!" He showed his threatening row of teeth in a big smile to the Hylian, and hopped up the waterfall, swimming and fighting the currents in ways that didn't look physically possible. "He's so beautiful." she said to herself, watching in awe as he leaped to the dock of the reservoir and disappeared from sight. 

After a few seconds, she could see his figure leap and swim back down the torrential stream once more, landing graciously right in front of her. He exhaled a deep breath, and spoke.

"See? I'd never put myself in  _ too  _ much danger!" Link smiled proudly, fighting back the urge to hug the prince.

  


"Watching you swim like that is so hypnotic." Sidon grinned, his skin dripping with water.

"Care to come up with me? I wish to try to move Vah Ruta closer to the reservoirs dock so I can load it." Link realized she hadn’t even seen him so much as try to move Vah Ruta since they left its chambers just the day before.

“Yeah! Are you nervous to try moving it?” Sidon nodded, moving his body around and crouching to let the small Hylian onto his back. 

“Absolutely. That’s why I want you with me.” Link blushed, loving that she can give the prince a feeling of safety. She climbed up on Sidon, and before she knew it they were rocketed up the river. A blue and white blur overtook her vision as her stomach turned from the force, before all at once ending with a splash in the East Reservoir, and the prince began to swim the two over to the tamed Vah Ruta.

“Does that sensation not at all startle you, Link?” Link cocked her head, and she subconsciously squeezed him with her arms that were wrapped securely around his neck. 

“Going up the waterfalls?” He nodded, causing a small ripple in the water in front of them. 

“No! It’s really fun!” She shook him excitedly and he chuckled as he waded them through the crystal clear waters of the reservoir. “You make it look so  _ easy _ when you do it, though.”

“Well, we Zora cannot simply just do that by biological design, it’s considered to be a gift from Nayru. It’s one of the few blessings of the old goddesses we can say with definitive proof exists in Hyrule.” Link squeezed him again.

“You’re saying you swim up waterfalls using magic?” Sidon laughed out of his gills, the water around them bubbling. 

“That’s exactly what i'm saying! I was just surprised you can take the force of the swimming and not get dizzy.” The two climbed up the rough stone steps that led up to the elephant beast Vah Ruta, and were greeted once again by the still air that settled in its hollow chamber.

  


Sidon tentatively walked to the main panel of the beast, and looked back to Link.

“Ready?” She nodded curiously, eyeing the unlit console. He pressed his hand to the sand colored panel just as he had done the day before, and the entire beast seemed to shake slightly, followed by a gentle humming sound. Link and the prince both shared equally confused glances. 

“Does that mean it worked?” Sidon rocked his jaw in thought, looking to the front end of the chamber as he tapped the console idly.

“I’m wondering the same th-” The beast rocked again, and the entrance that the two had walked in from began to shut as Vah Ruta stood to its feet. Sidon instinctively put a hand on Link’s shoulder as the tremors tested their footing. At the far end of the chamber, a sizeable viewing port began slowly sliding open, cracking a large light into the empty beast. As the port began settling, it locked itself in place, accompanied by the green glow of the main panel. 

“Well, I’ve apparently done something.” The prince carefully pulled his hand away from the girl, and the two took cautious steps to the viewing port. Link watched Sidon as his stalwart stance stiffened, and his eyes narrowed to the lonely dock on the opposite end of the water.

The Divine Beast began to stir, and it’s large footsteps shook the water of the reservoir as it moved slowly toward the dock where he was staring. 

Link stared in awe as Sidon stood completely still in concentration.

“H-how are you doing that?!” Sidon shook his head and remained silent, still staring forward until and the beast finally came to a stop, lowering it’s set of stairs down on the dock and huffing as its hum ceased altogether. Sidon slumped from his ramrod stance, looking at the ground in amazement.

“By the goddess…” Link clenched her hands into fists of excitement, and she spoke.

“How did you do that?!” Sidon looked at the girl with a smirk, eyeing her sparkling expression and giving an enthusiastic shrug.

“I just thought of going to the dock and it took the lead, really!" She laughed as the trumpeting roar of Vah Ruta gleefully sounded in the air. The prince brought the heavy, rough rugs into the beast, and plopped them down flat across the flooring. 

The rugs covered a majority of the chamber, and Link could see the princes expression change to a contented one as he set his feet from the sandpaper-like stone of Vah Ruta onto the carpeting. 

"Feel like home yet?" Link asked, smiling lovingly at the Zora prince who met her gaze with a similar expression.

"We have a little ways to go, but I think we're getting there!" Links heart fluttered, the realization that she was basically moving in with the prince was hitting her in waves.

"I think so, too." She stood on the rug opposite him. "Is there anything I can do to help?" Sidon nodded, casually kicking the dust free from the old rug beneath his feet.

"Yes! There's some miscellaneous things you could gather for us while I swim some of the heavier things up here, does that sound sufficient?" She nodded as they walked down the steps and back onto the ground next to the waterfall facing the Domain. 

"Mhm! Just don't carry more than you can handle, okay?" Sidon lips curled into a smile at the girl as he crouched down for her to climb up. 

"Yes ma'am." She giggled, her cheeks turning light pink as she wrapped her arms around him and prepared for their descent. The rush of water and the sensation of falling flew past her in seconds, and the two landed firmly on the grounds of the domain. She slid off of the comfortable warmth of the prince and walked by his side.

"What do you need me to get for us?" Sidon rested a hand to his chin in thought as he pulled the door to the old storage room open.

"There's some plateware, fishing nets, rope. Honestly, anything of that nature that catches your eye. Oh! Blankets, too!" She nodded, looking at the numerous wooden crates that messily littered the floor as the prince lifted a lumpy looking mattress over his head.

"I'm...so excited, Sidon." She looked at the floor, too embarrassed to meet his gaze, and heard him speak back in a quiet tone.

"I'm relieved to hear you say that, Link." She furrowed her brow, and her eyes that were focused on the crates moved to the prince's gaze.

"Why is that?" He smiled, readjusting the mattress that was slung over his head.

"It's just...comforting to know that you're as optimistic as I am about this." Link felt her heart flip, and nodded as she ignored her flushing cheeks and shooed him away.

"Go, that looks really heavy!" 

The prince smiled, pushing the door hastily with a foot and shutting it behind him. The room settled into a quiet hum, and the familiar buzz of the luminous stone sounded more comforting than grating, as it had been to her before.

She rummaged through the rotting boxes that lay strewn about the floor, most being stuffed with ancient looking adornments, needlessly fancy candelabras, tattered tableware, it all seemed so outdated to the girl. 

She grabbed an empty bag and began searching to fill it with things she could find that seemed useful. She managed to wrestle free a tangled fishing net that was hastily shoved to the bottom of a crate and stowed it away, along with an array of spoons and forks, and several drab looking plates. As she continued to dig through the mess, a familiar silver sparkle that reflected off of a dark purple rock caught her attention. 

A small group of luminous stones lay huddled together in a mesh-like bag, and she reached an arm over to pull them out. The heavy clacking of the stones caused them to briefly glow a deep, blue hue as she observed them. She noticed another glimmer in the crate as she put the stones in the rucksack she was storing things in. 

She pulled a dainty chain necklace connected to a small, glimmering luminous stone. The eye catching sparkle of the stone was that much more bright after she carefully gave it a slight  _ flick _ , and it shimmered a cool light blue in response. 

The stone was set snugly in an ornate, silver mold, and before she even realized what she was doing, she found herself wrapping it around her neck and attempting to affix the clasp together. She grew frustrated as the two parts of the necklace refused to connect, and she began pouting in concentration.

  


Before she could lock the two parts together, the loud creaking of the storage room door stopped her dead in her tracks. In the dim light of the storage room, Sidon could see the girls hands quickly attempt to hide the glowing jewelry, yet he could still see the light emanating between her fingers. 

"Hey there! Did you find anything interesting?" The prince wore a welcoming grin, and held out a mug for the girl before sitting himself gently on the nearby couch. 

"I brought you some tea!" The girl set the necklace between her crossed legs and graciously accepted the mug. 

"Thank you, Sidon." He smiled, still curiously eyeing the glow of the necklace.

"Is that just a stone, or?-" she held the glowing stone out by its delicate, small chain, and Sidon leaned in to examine it more closely. 

"Oh, my, I don't believe I’ve seen that before!" He smiled, and politely held out a hand. “May I see it?” She placed the necklace gently into the princes hand, and he ran a thumb across the stone, feeling its pristine smoothness with reverence.

“It’s quite beautiful, I’m not sure who would want this gone.” He stared into the radiating glow, and confidently looked up at the Hylian. “Would you like me to help you put it on, Link?” She blushed, staring into the deep blackness of the tea in her hands, and admitted defeat with a nod. “Come, sit in front of me.”

She scooted closer to the prince, and she could feel the necklace brush past her nose as he reached the chain around her neck. His hands fiddled with the lock for quite a while, and it seemed that even he was having a little trouble. “And...there! Antiquity or not, I made it work!” She turned around, turning over to face the smiling prince, and could see his expression fall from happy, to something that she could almost interpret as surprise, or even perhaps worry. 

“What’s wrong? Does it look okay?” Sidon shook his head, and smiled warmly at Link.

“It looks wonderful on you! It very much works, friend!” She felt as though he was hiding something, and wanted to press him further.

“Are you sure? You can tell me if it doesn't.” He visibly chewed his lip nervously, tapping a finger to his knee, and finally slumped in surrender to her questioning.

“Quite the opposite, actually.” He glanced down at her cup, before looking back up to meet her eyes. “It’s the same color as your eyes. It fits you perfectly, Link.” She felt her jaw loosen to a look of surprise, and looked again at the stone. 

“Oh!” She held it closely, attempting to hide it’s glow to no avail, as she felt her cheeks grow warm at the realization. “Thank you, I thought you didn’t like it.” Sidons brow furrowed. 

“Nonsense. What you wish to wear is not for me to judge, I think you look fantastic all the same.” She blushed, holding her mug by the handle and the side tightly as she smiled at him.

“What else do you need to get?” 

“Oh, well, another mattress most likely. I already got most of the things from my room I need. What about you, have you found anything worthwhile in here?” She nodded, setting her cup down and standing up to walk over to the bag, and plopped it onto the couch, sitting next to him. 

“Yep! I haven't been able to find rope, or bedsheets.” Sidon curiously looked inside, shrugging.

“Ah, what say you we both look together, hm?” She nodded, more than willing to spend an afternoon with the prince doing basically anything.

  


As night fell, the two had managed to successfully comb the musty storage room for supplies. Link carried a near-bulging rucksack alongside the prince as they walked into the opening of the beast Vah Ruta, and she set it down with a solid slump against the carpeted ground.

The once barren room was now minimalistically yet comfortably filled with two mattresses that laid on opposite sides of the chamber, along with a drawer, a few miscellaneous bags thrown about, and even a ragged couch that lay nearly lopsided near the entrance of the beast. 

She felt at home already, and what once was a cell-like prison for the spirits of the fallen champions was now a safe haven for the purpose of defeating the thing that took their lives to begin with.

“You’re sure you wish to accompany me, yes Link?” She hadn't been more sure of anything in her life, but returned his question with her own.

"You remember me telling you how excited I am for this, right?" Sidon chuckled.

"I know, it's just that I've rushed you into this so quickly. I mean look at this, these are our sleeping quarters." He gestured to the two lumpy mattresses in each corner of the chamber. She stopped him, mainly by the frown that she wore on her face.

"Well, the only thing I've been is excited to spend more time with you.” Sidon’s eyes widened, and he smirked at the girl. “I never liked being alone out there." He furrowed.

“Were you...ever too awfully lonely in Hyrule? Did you not find friendship?” Link shrugged, not knowing how to give a clear answer. There was a pause, and she tried to gather her thoughts under the princes empathetic expression.

"Since I've woken up, I've made friends. I love the people I've met in Gerudo and Kakariko, and they make me feel like im not alone, but I still feel lonely a lot. I wouldn't take them with me to save Hyrule, because none of them make me feel...safe, like you do." Sidon's cheeks flushed blue.

"It's more than an honor to hear that. I will do anything to make sure the both of us are safe, Link."

"Just keep letting me follow you everywhere, then!" She said with a cheeky wink, and his blush deepened as he chuckled at her remark. Sidon watched as a stray sunset firefly wandered into their large makeshift bedroom, floating aimlessly in unpredictable squiggles in the air.

"I don't think I’d have it any other way." They both watched in a moment of comfortable silence as the firefly settled itself on the wall, fluttering its wings and crawling around contently. Link began unpacking the things she had gathered earlier and Sidon followed her lead, picking up a bag that he had hastily thrown in a corner.

“It’s really dark in here, don't you think?”, Link asked, barely being able to see his form walk toward her on the other side of the room. He stopped, musing.

“Hm. I do wonder.” Before he approached her, he placed his hand on the console that was set in the middle of the chamber, and the vein-like lights that connected the power sources of Vah Ruta began to glow dimly, lighting up the entirety of the room. “Hah! Amazing, it feels so second nature!” Link watched his excited expression lovingly as she shoved a handful of eating utensils into the lone drawer. He stood there, using his will itself to make the lights go from dimmer to brighter, watching his surroundings take on the bluish hue of the lights around him.

“Having fun?” He snapped his sights to Link, and smiled brightly as he set the lights to a comfortable visibility.

“Yes! It’s so much fun! I wish you could try this yourself! I’m literally using my  _ mind _ to brighten the room!” She giggled at him, holding a hand over her blushing face as he pointed excitedly to the console. 

“You can also make it walk wherever you want it to, what more could you want?”

The prince smiled and began unpacking along with the girl, setting aside knick knacks and various spools of yarn among his side of the room. 

“Exactly! I know I may seem easily amused, but this is a freedom I’ve never known! It’s all so overwhelming!” He continued looking through the bag he held in his hands, and sat cross legged next to the Hylian.

  


“So, what do you think you’ll do after Calamity Ganon is gone?” Sidon smirked, setting another ball of yarn into the drawer in the middle of the far end of the chamber. 

“Well, I haven't quite thought that far ahead. I’d love to be a part of the rehabilitation of Hyrule, especially for my people’s sake.” Link nodded, watching him affectionately as he set an empty bag aside. 

She watched as the mention of his own people sent him into a more somber expression, and he spoke more quietly. 

“You know, I don't mean to be so negative, but I was beginning to think I had no future, that none of my people had a future. I've only just realized how little I had wanted to think of what was in store for my own domain.” His expression grew more serious, and he set what he was doing down. “I thought it was all over, Link. I pushed those thoughts so far away.” Link frowned, shaking her head and meeting her eyes to the prince. 

“You still had hope.” His frown deepened, and he shook his head in response.

  


“I’m afraid I did not, my friend. I had never felt so...defeated. It was this gnawing feeling that crept up on me throughout the years. Before I knew it, I found it hard to even leave my own quarters, I…” He stuttered, and grew more silent. “I found it hard to look my own people in the eye.” 

  


She watched as his stare into empty space began to grow distant and vacant, and pushed aside her own nerves along with the bag she had in her lap, and wrapped an arm around his back. Sidon looked down at her, surprised, yet he never stopped her. 

She could feel the air he exhaled through his gills, and she moved her hands accordingly to not hinder his breathing.

“Is this okay, Sidon?” She never looked up, but could feel his eyes staring at her.

“I...yes...yes it is.” He returned the kindness of her comforting hand and wrapped an arm around her side as well, and she blushed as they pushed into each others warm touch. 

  


“You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Sidon. Even making it that long in those conditions is so strong.” She could hear his breath hitch, and he squeezed her side. “Sidon?”

“I had given up all hope, Link. I had failed my people.” He began losing the battle with his tears, and started crying.

“Hey, hey, Sidon. It’s okay.” She held him to her as tightly as she could with one arm, and let him cry. “You still did patrols, you still kept a smile on your face, I know you did.” His sobbing continued, and she felt herself tearing up as well.

“I know it's foolish of me to feel this way, I just...when I looked at the Zora people, all I could do was think of how miserable they felt, how short their lives could have been. It wore on me so much. I know they were ready for it to end.” She moved her hand to his back, and rubbed him softly.

“I can imagine they still don't feel the best, but I  _ know _ for a fact they’re happier than they used to be, and they’re going to keep feeling better as time goes on.” She could feel the prince grip her again, and she carefully rested her head against him and looked up to his beautiful, yellow eyes. 

  


“Sidon, you were enough for your people. You’re alive right now, that proves you’re strong. When I woke up, I was just  _ thrown  _ into Hyrule. I didn’t have anything at all, and it took me a while to start to feel normal, you will get there.” She could feel him pull her even closer to his body, and enjoyed every second of being so intimately close to the prince. 

“I’m so sorry that I brought this up, I d-” She interrupted him, shushing him as he whimpered.

“Shh, I don’t want you to keep this inside, prince. Thank you for opening up, I know it’s not easy. You deserve to be listened to, and you don't have to keep anything in anymore, not while im around, okay?” He began to cry more heavily, and he gently rested his head against hers. She felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter harmoniously as he held her closely, and she felt her own hot tears roll down her cheeks.

“You are such a blessing, Link. I don't want to imagine a world without you.” He let out a long, shuddering sigh, and relaxed his grip on the girl. She felt as his breathing began to slow down, and the two sat in silence, sitting cross legged huddled up together.

“I don’t want to imagine a world without you either, Sidon.” He clung to her, and the euphoric feeling of being so close to him was accompanied by the sound of crickets and cicadas from outside Vah Ruta. 

She felt his chest rise and fall with his breaths, and became lost in how relaxing the rhythm was to her. She daydreamed of having her head there every night, lying comfortably intertwined with him among messy bed sheets as she felt his beautiful form cradle her. She daydreamed of soft, loving kisses to her cheeks and nose, and she daydreamed of playful tickle fights. She felt her mind wander further, and daydreamed of his tall, beautiful body over her as he tenderly held her pale legs and-

  


She was knocked out of this trance by the vibrations of the princes soft, yet demanding voice through his chest.

  


“Forgive me if this is too much to say, Link, but…” She squinted her eyes curiously, even though she wasn't looking at the prince at all, as her head was still resting against the side of his chest.

“What is it, prince?” Sidon rubbed a thumb across her side carefully, and continued.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I do not wish to-” She stopped him, her tone as soft as she could muster.

“Sidon, you don't have to keep anything inside, remember?” She looked up at him as she said this, and was surprised that the prince did not want to make eye contact as he shied from her gaze in response, and he spoke.

“I... very much like being this close to you. I hope that you don't think that’s strange.”

She blushed feverishly, and she felt the wind knocked out of her in awe of what he had said. 

"S...Sidon. Look at me." 

The man of her dreams struggled to look down to make eye contact with her.

"I'm sorry I said that, that wasn't appropria-"

"No, pIease, just look at me." He finally met her gaze with his own, and as his eyes locked on hers, he smiled with his mouth part way open, and exhaled, looking as if he was transfixed.

"I like being this close to you, too." 

He gripped her in response, holding her closer, and she felt if she would stare into his eyes any longer she would be so overcome with emotion that she would do something she'd regret.

"I'm just so afraid of scaring you, losing our companionship." She held her gaze on the princes chest, and furrowed quizzically.

"You'd never scare me, Sidon. Why would you think you would lose me? You know I only ever want to be around you." Sidon chuckled nervously. 

"I do know, and that's why I... couldn't bear to compromise that." She blushed deeper, feeling her heart rate rise quickly.

"Sidon, you couldn't compromise our companionship if you tried, I mean that. There's nothing you can't tell me." 

She looked back up, her eyes meeting his once again, and he exhaled at the sight. 

Link saw an emotion in the prince that she hadn't been witness to yet, as he looked so intensely worried looking down at her innocent gaze.

"By the Goddess above, your eyes are so beautiful" Her eyes widened, and her heart dropped and flipped wildly as his expression of worry grew to one of fear. "I...no, please forget I said that. Please." She felt her breathing grow heavy, and her mind began to spin at the surrealism of the situation. "Link, I'm so dreadfully sorry. That was inexcusable."

He removed his arm from around her, and stood himself up on his feet. She felt as though her mouth was filled with cotton, the comforting warmth of his embrace being taken from her shook her from her daze, yet she still could not find the words to communicate to him.

"I should go, I'll make sure the hotel is aware that you'll be staying in their most comfortable suite." She shook her head, not even thinking of how she couldn't get down the East Reservoir without him anyway. She watched as he turned on his heel, and began walking away. She drew in a sharp breath, pushing herself as hard as she could to speak.

  


"Sidon!" 

  


She could see him tense up, and reluctantly turn toward her, and she couldn't see his normally bright eyes from how sullen his expression was.

"Do you...do you really think my eyes are beautiful?" She sat up, and could see him move closer, struggling to speak without trembling.

"Of course I do. It sort of slipped out, and i'm so sorry, but...yes." Link looked at him amazed, and she felt her heart continue to race.

"Please, I want you back here. I...I still want you close to me." 

She stammered her words, barely able to keep a coherent thought in her head, and she watched as Sidon slowly approached, and nervously sat himself down next to her. 

"Can I...put my head back where it was?" He nodded speechlessly, blushing as she tenderly scooted into his arm and rested her head on his chest, sighing contentedly at his warmth. 

Sidon responded by squeezing her, and adjusting to best make her feel comfortable.

"Why would you feel like you'd lose me because you think my eyes are pretty?" Sidon exhaled, and she could feel him speak quietly.

"I hope this won't scare you. Link, I think you're beautiful. All of you. I'm afraid of losing your companionship because...because I believe I have feelings for you." 

Link's heart practically thumped its way out of her chest, and she immediately felt tears race down her cheeks. 

She tried her best to find any words, any sentence or phrase that would let him know how she felt, yet all she could do was lift herself up boldly onto his lap and hug the prince in a blur, wrapping her arms around his neck, and she could feel him squeeze her back immediately. 

"Sidon...you have no idea...all I've been thinking about is how I want to spend all of my time with you." She inhaled a panicked sounding breath, and embraced him in relief. "This is a dream, right, Sidon? Please...please tell me you aren't lying." Sidon held her tenderly in his arms, clenching his eyes closed and pressing his face against her golden hair, and spoke.

"If it is, I hope I do not awaken. I'd not lie to you, Link. I...you've taken the breath from my lungs from the moment I laid eyes on you." She shook in his arms, feeling like she was going to faint. "Link, you're trembling, are you alright?" The only thing she could feel was the electric ebbs and flows of love for Sidon that coursed through her body.

“Prince, I...I don't know what to say, other than yes, yes I'm alright. I’m more than alright.” She gripped him tightly, and he squeezed her again, and she could feel his face press against the top of her head, sending her mind spinning. 

“I’m so relieved, Link. I was just so worried that you would think ill of me for it, but I just feel like I stammer so much around you, and I did not mean for that to slip out like it did.” She shushed him, as he sounded like he was beginning to shake as well.

“Hey, it’s okay, Sidon.” She pulled back a bit, and looked the beautiful prince in his golden eyes. 

“You were just going to ignore how you feel?” He stuttered, and she could hear him exhale in a relaxed frustration. 

“Yes, because In one way or another, I wish to accompany you, and it was safest to assume you would simply want me as your friend; as your accomplice. If I were to lose that, it would feel awful to say the least, so I said nothing.” Link pressed the side of her face against his chest, and felt him hug her lovingly.

“I...you’ll never lose me. I would have gone without saying how I feel, too.” He chuckled, rubbing her back affectionately and pressing his forehead against her hair.

“My father even told me you might be fond of me, I just couldn't believe him. I could hardly believe it myself, to be truthful.” She casually settled in more in his lap, and spoke.

“What do you mean? How could you not believe that?” 

  


“Well, it comes down to a number of things. To put it frankly, I’ve never felt this way towards anyone, for one. I simply thought I was excited for my own people, and my own future. That's not to say I am not those things, but...I cannot look at you and not think of how happy you make me, or how brave you make me feel.” 

She was entranced, his words were sweet and loving, his tone was gentle, and caring. She felt as though she would melt through the floor at his idle touch. “You’re just such an amazing woman, Link. Not a second goes by where I’m not thinking of you.” 

Link began to tear up again and grabbed onto him like she was holding on for dear life.

“I can’t believe this is happening, I wanted...I wanted you so badly.” Sidon’s breath caught, and he pulled back from her a bit, and held out a gentle hand from behind her back.

“You have me, Link. It does not matter what way; if we are romantically involved or not, you will always have me.” He tenderly gestured his hand to the girl. “Here, I do hope this is okay.” She moved a hand away from his back, and looked up at him, hoping that she was doing what he wanted, and carefully set her pale hand in his palm. 

He took it gently, exploring her touch, and the two interlocked their fingers together, both blushing in awe of how right it felt. Link huffed, smiling lovingly at their hands intertwining. She rubbed her thumb against his hand, feeling the smoothness of his skin as fireworks went off inside her chest. 

“Your hands are so big. How do you knit so flawlessly?” She didn’t even think before she asked that, everything just seemed like a dreamy blur to her at that point. He used his other arm to pull her just a little closer, and spoke quietly.

“The masterful, age-old art of holding one's breath.” He laughed through his gills and smiled, looking down at her as she stared at their hands. “How do you use these soft, delicate hands to drive your weapons down so effortlessly among your foes?” She giggled, blushing wildly and glancing up at him with her eyes that seemed to make Sidon melt all over again.

“I only went so crazy because you went out without me, I was trying to keep you and your people safe.” He smiled, his blush was covering his whole face as he held her.

“So you’re not normally that primal when you fight, hm?” She pouted.

“I will be if I have to, if I ever see another lightning weapon come that close to you, I’ll... ah-”

He grasped her tighter, pulling her attention from her hurtful thoughts. 

“Not going to happen. I’ve no reason to be so reckless. I do not know what came over me that night.” She pouted again, and shook her head. 

“I know why you did it, but now things are different, right? I…” Her caring tone wavered, and her expression grew more panicked, as tears began falling down her cheeks. “Please, don’t be so self destructive again, I was so afraid of watching you die.” He let go of her hand, and held her closely to his chest once again.

“Oh, Link, I will not scare you like that again, I promise. There’s too much for me here, too much to experience to be so brazen.” She stammered, the euphoric feeling of being held by the prince was bittersweet paired with his words.

“I’m sorry. The idea of you not caring about your own safety just...hurts so badly.” 

“I understand. There is no need to be sorry, I would feel the same way if it were you.

The little regard I had for myself was most likely because of how trampled my spirits had been since the calamity. It’s not the first time I've been foolhardy with my own morality.” 

She felt her tears soaking her shirt, and began wheezing sobs again. “I realize that that was not the best thing to say.” She sniffled, and shook her head at the prince.

“Sidon, it’s alright. Just promise me you’ll tell me if you get those impulses again, okay? I can’t be without you. Hyrule cannot go on without you, the domain can’t either. You’re such a special person.” She felt him rest his face the top of her hair, the warmth of his lips rested on her head gently.

“I will. You’ve helped me find my worth, Link; yet, I still get passing thoughts. I will be open and honest, okay?” She nodded, her face puffy with tears, and muffled her words into his chest. 

“Today has been...very intense.” He huffed, pulling back a bit and smiling down at the tear covered girl, and nodded genuinely at her.

“That it has, don’t you have cream to be applying? It’s getting late.” Her brow furrowed, and she grabbed onto him with newfound tenacity.

“ _ Nnnnn _ , no, I don’t want to get up. Don’t make me get up.” He laughed, blushing lovingly at her bratty expression.

“I don’t want you to either! However, I  _ do  _ know that you have to put that lotion on nightly, and we both have things that need unpacking if we want to leave by tomorrow morning.” Her expression fell, and she gave in to his demands. “Oh, come, you’re making it so hard to do this, you little urchin!” She giggled at his playful exasperation.

“Nnn, okay, okay.” She scooted off of his warm body, and sat in defeat, miserably huffing on the floor. Sidon stood up, and offered a hand to help the girl up. She reluctantly grabbed it, and pulled herself up next to him, and latched on to him affectionately in a hug. 

“Come, we can get this all done quickly, and we can...continue doing what we were doing later, okay?” She nodded, looking up into his striking eyes.

“Okay.” They shared a moment of silence, smiling at each other, before they separated, beginning unpacking the bags they had set aside previously. 

Link quickly rubbed the lotion she had on her chest, noting that it was almost a third of the way gone. She rubbed it a bit too hard, wincing at how painful even the smallest push was against her sensitive nipples.

  


“So, do you have any idea of where we will be venturing first, Link?” She tucked a fishing net carefully away under her mattress.

“Hm. I remember Hateno being really safe to get to from where we are.” He quirked an eyebrow, speaking more loudly from the distance he was from the girl.

“Really? That was the last town our people had trade agreements with, I believe. I don’t know what they’d think of us now, but reaching out seems imperative regardless, don’t you think?”

She hummed in agreement, and spoke again. 

“I’d also like to get food, I want to make curry.”

“You cook? I had no idea.” She giggled, pulling out her bowl and chopsticks and setting them aside with the rest of the cutlery. 

“I’m really not good yet, but it feels nice to be able to. I love being able to give someone a good meal.” Sidon smiled, pushing the now full drawer that neatly held all of his knitting supplies. 

“I would love to try, but keep in mind I only have such a limited palate. We’ve only had seafood since the domain had been shut off from the rest of the world, that and a few things that can grow in water, such as rice or beans.” 

“I won't disappoint you, I promise.” Sidon looked at her adoringly, and almost whispered.

“You never do, Link." She appeared not to have heard him, continuing her thoughts.

“I also really want some new clothes. I can’t just keep wearing the same outfit.” 

There was a pause, and Link looked over to the prince, who was lost in thought.

“Are you okay, Sidon?” He snapped to her, holding a thick bedsheet.

  


“I am! I’m just...spacing out, is all.” He threw the blanket over the mattress, with all of the finesse of an expert, and tucked in the sheets neatly.

She followed suit with her own, messily making her bed with the faded blue sheets she had found in the storage room. 

"Link, I know it's quite late, but will you let me take you to the cafe? Both you and I haven't eaten much today." Her face lit up as she tucked her blankets hastily under her mattress.

"I haven't even been thinking about food, yes, please." He gestured her over, wearing an affectionate smile as she trotted up next to him.

"Let's go, Link."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NHFOEIRSFBSNOFNFESBNFOS I DIDN'T EXPECT TO MAKE THEM PROFESS FEELINGS IN THIS ONE BUT IT HAPPENED IM SORRY AAAAAA. also be sure to comment if you liked it, it means a lot aaaa <3


	15. We should spar some time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Sidon get a little closer, and the two feel more than ready to take on the outside world as the time approaches!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So I wanted to put more stuff with Sidon's perspective in here, and so I sort of do that every now and then in the coming chapters. This one starts out with Sidon, and the change is denoted by a big ol line ---- like that but across the whole page, I'm sure tons of people do it that way too.

The prince held her carefully on his back, swimming down the reservoir and landing as carefully as he could. He set her down, immediately wanting the touch of her pale, beautiful arms around him just a little longer, and the two began walking the quiet street for the domain's only cafe. 

He still felt butterflies wrestle inside of his stomach from earlier, and wished he could hold her hand for everyone to see, but he didn't even know if they were an item.

The prince felt so new to this, and yet he wanted nothing more than to be everything she's ever wanted. 

He found himself lost in thought watching her walk alongside him, thinking of what it felt like to hold her gorgeous body close to his, thinking of holding her delicate hand, and marveling at how soft she was. 

She opened the quaint, wooden door to the cafe, and the two were greeted by its familiar Hylian-style novelty. The candles burned brightly and warmly in the room, melting white wax upon the shelves they sat on. 

The owner perked up, previously half asleep at the front desk of the nearly empty cafe.

"Well, if it isn't the saviors of the domain! What can I get for ya?" Sidon smiled, enjoying the less than regal greeting he was used to.

"I think I'll take plain rice and salmon, please." She looked over at Link expectantly, and she stammered.

"Crab cakes please." Sidon chuckled.

"They _do_ have other things here, you know." She stared at him, pouting in a mock expression of sternness, which caught him by surprise.

"I _really_ like the crab cakes, Sidon" he snort laughed, fighting back the urge to squeeze her for being so cute.

"Wow, Prince, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call you by your first name except for the king." He felt his cheeks flush blue, as the owner held a quizzical glance at the two. She was right, Link was the only exception to that rule.

"Y-...no, there are some in the council that address me as such as well. Oh! And ...Bazz does...too..." _Oh, she's shaking her head. She knows, doesn't she? Dear Hylia she knows I'm lying._

She pointed a curious finger at the couple, leaning up against the dark wood grain of the front desk.

"Are you two?...like?" Both of them blushed furiously, and glanced at one another, half expecting the other to answer. "Oh, you are! That's so _cute!!_ I won't tell anyone, okay?" She paused, watching the two grow more flushed. "Ah! Go, sit, let me go get your food ready!"

Sidon relaxed, and he looked at Link nervously as the two walked to a table and sat. He grabbed the table with a hand and leaned in to speak quietly.

"Link, i'm so dreadfully sorry-" She interrupted, holding a hand over her mouth.

"She called us cute, Sidon! We're cute!" He chuckled out a sigh of relief, shaking his head at the girl. He spoke quietly, keeping a lower tone among the near-silent cafe.

“She was only calling us that because I’ve got you alongside me, you know.” 

She smiled widely, blushing and giving him a playful kick under the table. “Hey! That hurt!” 

“You’re the cute one! You’ve got a _fanclub,_ Sidon! That’s crazy!” 

He smirked coyly.

“So do you!” She shook her head, her expression showed she knew what was coming.

“Don’t say it, don’t say you’re my fanclub!” He cracked up in hysterics, holding his stomach.

“Oh come, it’s true! I demand an autograph! An interview! Pages from your diary!” Her expression grew surprised. 

“They took pages from your diary?” He rolled his eyes, resting his head on his hand.

“What haven’t they tried taking? Old clothing, personal belongings.” She furrowed her brow, looking around the room and leaning in closer.

“ _Personal belongings?_ Like what?!” He furrowed, and piped up quietly. 

“You know how I have a favorite blanket?” She nodded, her eyes widening. “Well, I used to have a favorite pillow, and a favorite book, _and_ a favorite inkwell. Ah, I miss that inkwell, it was shaped like a little octorock.” 

“That’s so not okay, how do you deal with that?” He smiled, shrugging, much to her dismay.

“With patience. I almost don’t blame them, before Vah Ruta was tamed, there was nothing to do, nothing to get obsessed over, you know?” He clicked his nails together, tapping a foot on the ground. She _didn't_ know. She thought she was enthralled by him, but some in the domain appeared to be unhealthily obsessed with the prince.

The two had their plates energetically set in front of them by the owner, wearing a knowing smile and glancing at the both of them. 

“You two...oh my _HYLIA_ that's too adorable. _Ahh_. Okay, sorry, I’ll go. Enjoy the food!” She saw herself back behind the front desk, and the attention was making Link beam with pride. She looked back to the prince, and spoke up in a curious tone. 

“Wait, so you’re telling me no one calls you Sidon? Except for the king?” Sidon nodded, shoveling a bite of rice into his mouth. 

“Yes ma’am!”

“And you just _told_ me to call you Sidon outright? Why?”

“Because you’re...different, Link. The formalities just don’t feel right. That’s like if I called you Princess Link.” Her look grew wide eyed again, and she blushed at the thought as her lips parted in awe. Sidon realized what that implied, and held his arms out in a panic to assure her.

“Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best example. What I mean is, I feel so close to you. I don’t want there to be that divide between the both of us, im simply Sidon, and you’re simply Link.” 

She bit into a crab cake, looking at him and nodding agreeingly.

“I guess, but I think calling you prince is cute.” He shrugged.

“Prince is fine, Sidon is good, but Prince Sidon is a _bit_ much, don’t you think? I don't know, it really is up to you.” Link grew silent for a moment, and waited until Sidon met her gaze again.

“Okay, prince.” She smiled at him lovingly, her eyes were gentle, and caring, and it felt like she was speaking in a tone she’d been waiting to use for so long, a more intimate one, and Sidon could feel his cheeks get hot at how much he enjoyed it.

“A...ah...I suppose that is nice, coming from you. I like that.” She smirked again. 

“I like it too.” Sidon felt a strong compulsion, a yearning to hold her close again. He felt his body ache to have her near, to see her smile. He was so relieved to have slipped up earlier, because the way she spoke to him now felt like the accident was so worth it.

“Sidon?”

“Hm? Yes?” 

“I asked if you wanted to go to the beach with me sometime.” Sidon nodded, thinking of what they’ll get to do together now that they’re so close to leaving, and so close to each other.

“Of course, I’ve never seen the ocean.” She shook her head. 

“I haven’t either, it sounds like something we could do together.” The prince’s heart fluttered.

“You’ve been there for many of my firsts, you know? I’d be honored.” 

The two ate in silence, comfortably sharing glances between bites, and Sidon could clearly tell she was enamoured with him by her expressions. It should have seemed obvious, he should have been completely aware of her feelings, but he saw her as a sort of deity, something untouchable, unattainable. She was such a shining beacon that he felt he was only worthy of marveling at.

“I’m so tired.” The prince nodded his head in response, setting a handkerchief down and scooting back in his chair.

“Let’s go, Link. I’m tired, too.” The two stood, and received a chipper and knowing goodbye from the owner.

“Bye, you two~” 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link walked next to Sidon, staying closer than she normally would have just hours earlier in the day. The two approached the East Reservoir’s torrential waterfall, its rushing water was pitch black in the dark of the warm night. The girl climbed carefully on Sidon’s back, hugging him affectionately with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Her eyes felt so heavy, and yet she didn’t want this night to end, not at all. The familiar tugging of the prince’s swimming up the waterfall turned her stomach in knots until they landed gently on the dock. The prince let out a long, comfortable sounding yawn, his teeth still gleaming brightly from the scarce, pale moonlight above. She followed it with her own, getting the attention of the prince, and he smiled adoringly at the cute squeak that it ended with.

The two stood in the doorway, both eyeing their own beds respectively, and slowly dragged their gazes to each other. 

“Well, I suppose I’ll see you in the morning, then!” She nodded, glancing down shyly, and back up to the prince. She went in for a hug, and the Zora responded by warmly grasping back.

“If you need me, you know where I'll be, prince.”

"Likewise, Link." 

She giggled, and hesitantly pulled herself from him. Link shuffled over to her bed, and plopped on the surprisingly fluffy mattress. Sidon was seen pressing a hand to the console of Vah Ruta and shutting the stair covered entrance on the beasts' side. She threw a dusty blanket over her body, and nuzzled herself into her mattress. 

Perhaps it was her exhaustion alone that made the glorified pillow that was set flat on the ancient stone ground of Vah Ruta feel comfortable, but even with that comfort, as the seconds turned to minutes, she felt herself grow agitated and restless in her new bed. She moved her head over to look at the prince, but as dark as the room now was, she couldn't see him; not even his figure, nothing.

She held a pillow close to her chest, and closed her eyes, expectant of her mind to lull itself to a slow and steady voyage among a drifting dreamstate. Minutes went by.

Sleep did not come. 

She restlessly kicked the blankets off of her legs, feeling the inviting cool air in Vah Ruta wash over her, and clenched her eyes shut.

Longer, still, did her mind race.

She lay there as it felt like minutes turned to hours. 

_It's been an hour, I_ **_know_ ** _it's been an hour by now. Ugh._

Perhaps she was exaggerating, but time dragged itself slowly nonetheless.

As her eyes refused to send her into the velvety, blissful jaws of sleep, she tapped the small luminous stone around her neck, and it flickered to life dimly in front of where she was facing. 

If she squinted she could see the faint light reflect off of two very vibrant, gold colored circles on the far end of the room. 

_Is that?-_

Just as soon as she saw them, they blinked out, and she heard a small rustling from across the chamber. She had nothing to lose, and she couldn't stand the anxious fit of being in her bed any longer. 

She kicked her feet out, grabbed her pillow, and lifted herself slowly out of the bed, the sound of her bare feet against the rough stone ground made small, audible pats. 

She approached the prince's form lying facing away from the girl, barely lit by her small necklace. Without warning, she gently slid her small frame next to the prince, and laid her head on her pillow that she placed next to his own.

As she did this, Sidon rolled himself over to face the girl, and her necklace gave the two just enough visibility to see each other clearly. Sidons eyes brightened and ogled at the small Hylian beside him, and Link felt just as amazed at what she was seeing.

"You couldn't sleep?" She shook her head, to which he pressed his lips together knowingly.

"I know you couldn't, either." He blushed, and smiled, embarrassed he'd been caught. 

"I know, I...well, I've been thinking about today. Tomorrow as well, but mostly today." She felt her face grow hot, and tried avoiding his gaze.

"Me, too, prince." 

She paused before scooting closer to him shyly, feeling his welcoming arm snake around the back of her neck to pull her to him. She rested her head comfortably on his arm, feeling the other reach around to rub her back lovingly, and she set a hand affectionately on his chest. She could hear his breath grow heavy, and slow, and the two stared at each other in amazement, feeling their shared warmth dance together.

"You're so breathtaking, Sidon." She could see him tear up a little at this comment, and smile brightly.

"You've made me so happy, I..." he paused, looking lovingly at her gaze and the Hylian gripped him in response. "May I have the honor of calling you mine, Link?" There was a pause, as if time stopped, and her heart flipped around and fluttered in her chest as she felt tears flow down her cheeks and nodded, wrapping an arm around him and feeling him pull her closer.

"Yes, yes Sidon, I'm yours!" She could feel him pull her with both arms, cradling her gently into the most enveloping and emotionally powerful embrace she's ever felt. "You have no idea how badly I wanted this; how much I wanted to be with you _,_ Sidon." She felt his soft embrace weaken, and she pulled back and looked at him face to face.

"I'm very new to all of this, I'm sure you're aware." She giggled, tears staining her cheeks.

"And you think I'm not? I just thought how I felt was normal, you know?” Sidon nodded understandingly. “That maybe you were just being so nice that it _energized_ me, but-", she paused, blushing and running a hand across his arm, "I just kept thinking about you." He nodded, keeping eye contact with the girl.

“As much as I can say I've been battered by all of these new thoughts and feelings, freeing Vah Ruta, meeting my _sister_ for the first time in a hundred or so years, you’ve been consistently on my mind as well. It’s...it’s good to start this excursion on the right foot, my dearest.” 

She felt her chest flood with warmth at this.

“I’m your dearest?” His eyes widened, and he shook his head.

“Is that not okay? I can call-” She shook her head sternly, a blush was seen covering her face in the quickly dimming light of the necklace she wore, and she interrupted. 

“Prince, no. I love it.” He relaxed, sighing out of the side of his gills that wasn't pressed against the mattress below them, and smiled.

“That’s good to hear. You are ever so dear to me, Link.” He carefully rubbed her necklace, snuffing out the light between them, and she snuggled in closely to him. She felt his breathing rise and fall, and her eyes became heavy with overdue sleep. She spoke up in a whisper.

“I didn’t know you could do that with luminous stones.” He mumbled, half asleep and holding her, and she could hear his smile in his voice as he spoke

“You can, just with the really small ones.”

Being in the comforting embrace of the prince was unlike any fancy or fluffy bed she'd ever been in, and unlike any pillow she'd ever held. Besides the embarrassingly difficult to hide hardness between her legs that she painfully tucked between her soft thighs to keep from outright poking the prince, she was enveloped in a blissful comfort. 

It was clear to her that she would have to hide these occurrences from the prince, as they previously would only happen so often around him, but they had been occurring more and more, and she continued to fantasize being as close and as intimate with him as possible. She drifted into sleep, held affectionately by her beloved. 

The daylight cracked through the few crevices in the walls of Vah Ruta, and the warming weight of Sidon's arm around her pulled her ever further from her sleep. She opened her eyes to meet the gaze of the beautiful prince, who smiled lovingly at her in response. Sidon spoke as quietly as he could. 

"Oh, you look so beautiful, you messy haired girl." She grinned sleepily, feeling an ecstatic wash of love fall over her at waking up to him.

"Prince." He held her side with a hand, and gently ran it across her back in caring circles. "How did you sleep?" She spoke groggily, and he chuckled, moving a hand to hold hers, to which she gratefully accepted. 

"Better than I ever have, my dearest." She pulled herself closer, wanting to savor and capture the moment as best she could. "Also, I believe it to be close to noon, so it's safe to say we either fell asleep supremely late, or were treated to the most intense nearly-ten hour sleep session.” Her eyes widened, she couldn't believe him. She held out her shiekah slate that she had been uncomfortably sleeping on all night, and shook it on. 11:55 a.m.

“Wow, how’d you know that?” He chuckled, squinting at the time alongside her. 

“I did not, I suppose I’m just magic.” Link giggled, swiping a finger over to the other screen that showed the glowing wireframe-like map on the slate.

She used two fingers to zoom in on the area around Hateno, being comfortably cradled by the affectionate prince who was watching along with her. 

“Hm. Seems just a straight shot down from Samasa plain, that’s where the old trading road used to be, anyway.” He nervously chewed the inside of his cheek. “Perhaps going through the Naydra field, and stopping at the woods nearest the Village would be our safest bet, yes?” 

“I guess so, I hope no one sees Vah Ruta.” The prince shrugged. 

“I think the word will get out one way or another, don’t you think? We hopefully won't encounter opposition from anyone for using the beast as a steed, but even if we do, we cannot let that stop us.” She craned her head upside down to meet the prince’s gaze, and he looked at her admiringly in response.

“Hi.” She squeaked, and he laughed abruptly, as not receiving an answer to his musing threw him off guard. 

“Well hello there, bright eyed girl. Do you think we should be that much more careful around these towns and the beast, or do you believe that we’ll be alright?” She shook her head from her daze, and spoke.

“We should be fine, people are going to see us Vah Ruta no matter what, anyway. let’s see how Hateno goes.” He nodded, and moved a hand back to get a lock of her hair out of her face, and took a long moment to admire her further.

“Let’s go get breakfast, hm?”

The two ate peacefully in the somewhat empty Hateno Huddle, as now that the domain has been opened, people have begun moving wares and such outside of Lanyru.

“I believe the elder council has pushed for the first group to move out to update the rest of Hyrule, I haven’t seen nearly as many in the Zora army today, as well as most of our scholars.”

She sipped her black tea carefully, its aromatics pulled her even further from her usual groggy stupor.

“Why would scholars leave the domain?” He rubbed a handkerchief against his face.

“Well, we have a _huge_ amount of information here from the archives, unparalleled compared to the rest of Hyrule, save for what was destroyed in Hyrule Castle itself. Mostly history, but that’s what has been threatened to be lost to the calamity altogether. _Millennia_ of knowledge, threatening to just vanish in a slow cry. The scholars move the books we hold now, and attempt to spread information as far as they can. Think of them like teachers, who have been studying and training to leave the domain all their lives.”

“Woah.” He stopped midway through a sip of his golden orange tea, smiling at her short and sweet response. “So they’re just going to live in the towns they stop in?”

“Up to them, they’re supposed to have a certain amount of books scribed before they could consider themselves able to depart from the towns they stay in, but if they are comfortable enough living there, what’s truly stopping them?” She bit into a large chunk of crab cake, and spoke through her bites.

“So, you were raised to leave too?” He shook his head. 

“Oh, Hylia no, I was raised to stay here and be a political ambassador, somewhat of a greeter and cultural interpreter for the Zora Domain. Political discourse and paperwork, mostly. I simply chose to study more than was expected of me, and chose to fight alongside the army. It’s hard to look at my mother’s old sword and not be compelled to put its craftsmanship to use, it’s quite the piece of art.”

She furrowed, and leaned in closely from across the table.

“You’re not even a part of the Zora army?” He laughed, shrugging.

“Not officially, Bazz has the honor of being standing captain. I’ve turned down the theatrics and the status, I just liked helping where I could.”

“We should spar some time” Link smiled cheekily, showing her teeth and leaning back confidently. Sidon quirked his brow, trying not to crack a smile back.

“Oh, heavens, you want to _spar?_ I’d be too afraid of hurting you, I could not.” She wore a mock expression of fury, and her mouth opened agape in surprise.

“ _You think you’d win? Oh,_ _you’re asking for it.”_ He chuckled and waved his arms to circle back at what he had said.

“No, no! Not that I think I’m a better fighter! I just, ah! I couldn't bear the thought of bringing you harm! You mean too much to me!” She shook her head. 

“Then we can use wooden swords! Or something!” He scoffed playfully at her. 

“Like children?” She pouted, her eyebrows furrowed angrily.

“ _Yes! Like children! I don’t even care, I’ll take you down!”_ He laughed heartily at her determination, and held a hand up in surrender.

“Okay, you’ve convinced me, we can spar some time. Perhaps we can find some weapons and dull them for the use of training. I’m certain you’d win, but if you insist.” Her eyes sparkled at the idea. 

“Yes! Yes! That sounds awesome!” He set his cup down in its saucer with a dainty _clack._

“I need to see my father before we head out, okay? I’m assuming you wish to come along?”

The Hylian furrowed, calming down from her enthusiastic state. 

“Are...are you going to tell him?” Sidon wore a quizzical glare, and he noticed her blushing cheeks.

“Am I going to tell him w-... _oh._ I hadn’t given it any thought. He needs to know eventually, everyone does, but…” He paused, and her ears drooped sadly. 

“I...it’s not because I wasn't born a girl, right?” Sidon winced, his facial expression gave away a lot, and she grew quiet. 

“Are you...ashamed of me?” He immediately shook his head, and scooted over to comfort her from across the table. 

“No, hush, don’t say that.” She shook her head dismissively, and could feel her lip begin to quiver. She felt him put an arm around her shoulders.“I want nothing more than to tell everyone about you and I, Link. I’ve no problems with telling him, I’m just not extremely sure of how he will react. I simply don’t want to put you through that.” 

She sobered slightly, yet now she felt the same fear the prince held. She’s not very good at handling the heavy emotional blow of being denied validity to her own identity, and hoped that it wouldn't happen.

“Should I just...stay behind?” He clicked the nails of his finger and thumb together nervously, and looked at her sternly.

“It’s up to you, my dearest. Regardless of what happens, I will stick up for you, you must know that much.” She nodded, blushing and nuzzling her head against his arm. She could see the few people in the cafe looking at the two, including the starry-eyed owner who ogled at their union from afar, and Link pulled away politely in response.

“I know I’ll be okay with you, prince. Let’s go.” He nodded, offering a hand to help her out of her chair.

The two approached the king’s chamber in the warm, summer atmosphere of Hyrule. The smell of pollen was in the air, and the heat was carried by the slow moving breeze that moved throughout the domain. 

King Dorephan quickly moved his distant gaze from the furthest end of the greater Zora bridge, to the two that stood before him.

“Oh, dear me! You startled me, Sidon!” Sidon looked up at his gigantic father who was holding a hand to his heart in fear, and Link sunk to the prince’s side.

“What’s got you so jumpy, father? You know there’s no cause for alarm here any longer. We’re in just as much danger as anyone else in Hyrule. Which...I guess doesn't say a whole lot, actually.” The king shook his head, and glanced down at the two.

“It’s not that, son, it’s the _anticipation._ You know, _visitors_ _._ _”_ Sidon quirked his brow, before scoffing and putting a hand to his hip.

“What? Anticipating the traders? Father, you’ve been in rule for so long, you’ve spoken to more people than you could count in your head.” The king sighed. 

“I know, but I'm certainly not as good as I used to be, I’m _nervous._ You’re definitely the charmer of the family, Sidon.” Sidon grinned, waving a hand dismissively at his father's offhand praise. 

“Oh, father, come, just bring Muzu up here or _something_. Knowing him, he'd treat them like it was any other day.” The king shot his gaze back at his son, and enthusiastically raised his arms in the air.

“I can’t! He’s reorganizing the archive! The whole council is busy!” Sidon raised his arms, playfully mocking his dad in a large shrug, and pursed his lips together.

“Well! I believe that seals your fate, then! You must endure the grating, painful torture of _greeting_ people, father!” Link chuckled at the prince, and he glanced down to share an amused smile along with her. 

“ _Argh.”_ The king slumped in his seat and grunted, biting his lip in much the same way Sidon does, and looked to the prince. “You’re leaving soon, I take it?” 

Sidon nodded sternly, wearing an apologetic look. 

“We are, we plan to go to Hateno first and foremost.” Dorephan nodded agreeingly. 

“You may beat the scholar who made his way there, along with the appointed greeters. If you see them, do make sure they know you’re alright, so that they may report your safety to me.”

Sidon smiled at his father’s worry.

“Yes, yes, we will. I know I’ll be safe with Link by my side.” The king chuckled, and tried to meet his gaze to the shy Hylian behind the prince.

“Why do you hide, Link? I may look intimidating, but you’ve heard how I talk, I'm practically as harmful as a common trout.” She embarrassingly slid from behind the tall, red prince, but he stopped her before she was too far away from him.

“Father, I must tell you something.” The king furrowed, and looked at the prince.

“If it’s what I believe it is, just don’t tell the elder council.” The prince and Link both blushed in tandem, and Sidon cocked his head curiously.

“Wait...what do _you_ think it is, father?” The king chuckled flatly, and leaned in to speak. 

“Sidon, I love you, but you have nervous ticks that are more noticeable than you are from a distance. You haven't been this worried, or riled, or exuberant since the calamity! I had a good feeling you two were an item, and frankly I would have picked no one else for you to court. She reminds me of your mother, and you need that kind of backbone by your side.” Sidon and Link brushed arms from how close they were to each other, and they both looked in astonishment at the king’s words.

“How did you?...Wait, did you just call me spineless?” The king scoffed, and laughed heartily.

“No, no I did not. I just know I didn’t know my own strength until I was met with your mothers valiance and prowess.” Sidon relaxed, and Link leaned slightly against his arm for comfort, smiling in relief at the King’s acceptance of their union.

“I...I assure you that she does very much the same for me.” Link blushed, looking up at the prince fondly, and she could see him glance down at her as well. “I assumed as much about the elder council. Is it at all possible that you could inform them while we are away?” 

The king nodded, and gave a hum of affirmation.

“I can, but don’t be shocked if you get comments when you return.” Sidon rolled his eyes, and Link shuffled out from behind the prince a bit to speak up.

“Why would you just _let_ them act that way?” Both Sidon and the king chuckled flatly, more out of understanding than humor, and the prince spoke.

“It’s something out of our control, the elder council and the standing king and queen work separately, the king and queen following a bloodline, and the council being elected from each other, usually from a longer line of elders behind them. They’ve no control over us, we have no control over them, we simply must work together. It works quite smoothly, but they butt heads with us on some issues.” 

Link looked at Sidon confusedly, but nodded anyway. It seemed that Impa’s talk of the Zora’s diehard traditions the last time Link was in Kakariko was in regards to this system.

“Anyways, son. I will miss you dearly, you know that. Come, I need to hug you.” Sidon walked up to his father, who stood from his seat. His lumbering form outright _picked_ the prince up and squeezed the air from his lungs, and he set him down once again, breathless and panting.

“Why do you hug me like you’re trying to squeeze my guts out?” Dorephan laughed heartily as he sat down in his seat.

“You tell me that every time I hug you, maybe I should pay more attention next time, aha!” Sidon shook his head dismissively. “Link, I must tell you. Thank you for all you’ve done, both freeing my people, and reigniting the fire in my son. Please, take care of him.” Sidon scoffed as he brushed himself off and re-situated his sash.

“She’s not _adopting_ me, father.” Link cracked up laughing, blushing all the while. 

“I will, King Dorephan.” Sidon gave Link an exasperated glare, and sighed.

“Let us go, dearest” She blushed deeply and nodded. 

“Please, do visit soon, son. You know how antsy I used to get when you shut yourself up in your quarters so often.” Sidon nodded, and smiled genuinely at his father.

“I will, I promise.”

The two walked to the newly tamed Vah Ruta as the sun loomed above the Zora Domain, and after they jettisoned up the east reservoir and landed cleanly upon the dock near the beast, Link felt comfortable enough to hold on to the prince’s arm as they walked, and she melted as she could feel him lean in to her touch.

The staircase to Vah Ruta shut itself closed as they walked in, and Link looked to Sidon in surprise.

“Did you do that?” Sidon nodded, looking excitedly at the girl. 

“I don’t have to touch the console, I learned that this morning before you woke up. It seems I just have to be inside of it to use it!” The lights hummed, and the beast roared in response as it stood itself up, ready to begin the trek. “See?” Link’s heart raced, the sound of the beast and the shaking of the ground reminded her of watching the prince take a chunk of ice to the head, not to mention the chunk she took to the arm, as well.

Her belt vibrated furiously, and she looked down to she her Shiekah slate blinking a light blue, to a vibrant red. 

“Oh, my, is your slate alright?” Sidon asked, and Link curiously pulled it from her belt, and walked toward the console. It was shaking so hard that it nearly numbed her hand.

“I think it wants me to set it on the main panel.” This was confirmed as the blinking became more frequent, and the vibrations became more intense as she continued.

“By all means, I suppose.” Sidon watched the slate nervously, and she moved her hand over to the panel with the device in hand, and the glowing relic was magnetically tugged with a _thunk_ to the beasts main board. The slate’s interface flew through a few screens in a language the two couldn't understand, before flickering to the screen that held the familiar semi-real time map of Hyrule.

The map was quite the same as before, save for a few differences. There was a prompt that said something in what Link could assume was Shiekah, and the map was much more zoomed in on their location. A small, green flashing Ruta shaped icon was blinking in the middle of the reservoir, and attached to it was a yellow arrow. She felt completely stumped, the only time the slate had done this was when the beasts have needed to be re-calibrated after being purged of Ganon's toxic influence.

“Link, I think I may actually know what it wants.” She shook her head, shrugging. 

“That’s good, because I’m completely lost.” The prince approached the slate, and looked back to her determinedly. 

“I believe it wants us to tap where we want to go.” Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Are you sure? We said we wanted to go to the forest next to Hateno, right?” He nodded.

“Yes, but I'm a tad afraid it may just walk through everything in the worst path possible.” The beast trumpeted loudly in response to his distrust in it. It was most certainly clear to Link how much of a personality the Shiekah put into the beasts.

“Oh, hush, I'm just being sure! Let me…” He tapped Samasa Plains directly below the Reservoir, a large looking field that was sparsely peppered with trees; a perfect spot to try out this theory. The beast made a loud _clunk,_ and began wading through the water toward that direction. “Ha! Aha! Look! That was so _easy!_ ”

Link smiled admiringly at his excitement, but still felt her stomach flipping itself in fear of what was actually happening. The front panel near the head of Vah Ruta opened up in a visor-like slit, and the two could see exactly where it planned to walk according to the slate. 

Vah Ruta walked near the precipice, and Link realized she may just have a fear of heights as she was faced with the extreme looking drop below. The beautiful tan colored rocky mountains in front of them were visible from the porthole, and Link could see how enamored Sidon already was with the surroundings.

“Sidon?” The prince broke from his trance, looking at the nervous girl, and he quickly gave her a surprised, empathetic stare. 

“Oh, dearest, are you okay? You look petrified.” He got to one knee, and put an arm around her and held her steady as they watched Vah Ruta adeptly begin to walk down the mountain, it’s middle seemed to stabilize surprisingly well as it descended slowly. “See? This isn’t so bad. I’m right here with you.” She shook like a dead leaf, but his words were so comforting that she relaxed under his touch. 

“Thank you, Sidon.” He smiled as the two rocked under the erratic movement of Vah Ruta, and the sounds of moving and shifting rock was heard from outside the aperture.

“This is it, Link. We’re moving!” She gripped him as the sound of the drawer sliding slightly across the ground startled her.

Vah Ruta settled off of the steep rock, and continued walking to the plains, it’s inner mechanisms huffing in relief of walking near the solid ground.

“Okay, wow! I’m sorry that startled me so much.” Sidon wore a worried expression, and squeezed her tightly as she relaxed.

“Nonsense. I was the same way as a child, it’s completely understandable to be afraid of heights.” She giggled, and slapped him playfully.

“Yeah, but I’m not a child, prince.” He snorted in laughter, and shook his head as he let go of the girl. 

“Forgive me, it’s the only example I could think of!” She rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, and set her bag down by the entrance of the beast.

“Well, we’re here!”, Sidon exclaimed, and looked in awe of the beautiful small plain set before them. “I’m surprised this area was not turned to wetlands as well, it’s so close to the domain.”

Link moved close to him and wrapped her arms around one of his, and he smirked down at her in response. “Are you okay, my sweet?”

“Yeah, I’m more than okay.” He nodded, and looked to the map on the console of the beast. 

“Let’s go, Sidon.” He smiled back at her, and pressed near the little forest that laid snugly against the town, and the beast began trekking across the plains. “Come on, let’s go watch.” 

“Hm? Watch wha-” Link tugged him by a hand, and she took the lead as she sat next to the porthole and gestured to sit along with him. He smiled warmly, and sat leaning against the wall next to the opening, feeling Link cuddle up in between his legs, and rest her head on his chest. “It’s so beautiful, Link.”

The prince could see the birds flying between the trees, a fox darting from Vah Ruta's lumbering size into a nearby bush, as well as the mushrooms that grew on the sides of the mountains near them. The warm afternoon air wafted into the beast, and the two sighed at the welcoming sights of the completely new biome.

“I could get used to this.” Link looked to Sidon, and her hair was being blown into her face by the warm air from outside Vah Ruta. Sidon moved the golden lock of hair out of the way with a hand, and watched as her cheeks began to grow pink. The two enjoyed the sparse rocking of the beasts movements, and contentedly sat listening to the bird calls and buzzing cicadas.

As she leaned against his chest, she felt the firm press of his lips against her forehead, and she grew red at the heavenly feeling.

“You are too precious, Link.” She smirked at him lovingly, and spoke quietly.

“Can I give you one too, prince?” He looked surprised, but moved his forehead to her, and felt a small peck on his crest, to which he flushed a bluish green.

“I could get used to that, too.” She grinned, and nuzzled her head against his warmth.

“You will.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this gets more fun to write as I write it. Thank you so much for reading!


	16. Oh, he's adorable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pre-calamity flashback happens, pre-calamity dysphoria happens, Hateno happens. I enjoyed writing an oc in this one, plus a lil bit of lore as well. I really enjoy taking creative liberties in this fic, as I think there's a lot of room for them!

The two sat comfortably, and Link’s eyes were half lidded as she felt her body grow comfortable to the point of sleep. She awoke to a start, the beast shaking and settling next to the small, yet dense forest near Hateno village, lowering and opening the staircase that landed to the ground with a _thunk,_ and she opened her eyes and tensed up in alarm. 

She was still leaning against the prince, and he grasped her shoulder gently to calm her.

“Hello there, sleepy girl.”

“How long was I asleep?” He rubbed her shoulder gently, and she could see how happy he was to see her awake.

“An hour, maybe a little more. I’m surprised you didn’t wake up earlier, Ruta went over some fairly large bumps on our way.” She stretched her body out, and she could feel him chuckle at how big of a yawn she made.

“You just sat here while I was sleeping?” He shook his head in the negative, and spoke.

“No, I held onto you while you were sleeping. I could _easily_ do that for more than a few hours if need be.” She pouted, and sat up firmly, stretching once more and moving to get up, to which the prince followed suit.

“You could have sewed, or woke me up.”

“First of all, I was preoccupied. Second of all, how was I supposed to wake you with you leaning onto me like that? I would have felt awful!” She threw her bag around her side, and clipped her sword to her hip. 

“You’re more than welcome to carry my sleepy body to bed, you know. You should know how heavy of a sleeper I am by now.” He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“Well, to be honest, I was just enjoying the moment..” She chuckled at him.

“There’s plenty more where that came from, prince.” He smiled as he affixed his own weapon to his side, and looked to her nervously. She could see how much this was bothering him, the prospect of being surrounded by hundreds of people he’s never met made his voice tremble slightly as he spoke.

“Well, are you ready?” She nodded.

“You don’t look very ready at all, prince.” He shrugged as the two stepped down the stairs, and the beast shut the staircase closed behind them. 

“I’m ready as I’ll ever be, it’s the first town besides my own I've ever been in.” The two walked through the dense forest, the light sending small sunbeams onto the green grass below their feet.

“I’m here with you! Don’t worry, I'm nervous too.” Link and Sidon both perked up at the vague smell of cooking food, and the distant sound of children laughing and yelling. 

The forest quickly ended in a dirt road, and to their left they could see quaint houses and shops with red tiled roofs and sandy colored stone brick walls. 

From where they stood, Link could see that the village went up a hill, dotted with a few farmlands, and ending at the top with a mountainous cliff that held a windmill upon its pinnacle. It was all one road all the way up the hill, yet it did zig-zag along the way, especially near the top.

“My word, that’s quite the spectacle.” She could see his eyes sparkle at the dream-like view of the village. The sound of children grew audible again, and soon after, running past them were a group of four of them, chasing a dog down the road. 

“Let’s go, prince!” He hesitantly followed behind her on the dirt road, walking past the arches that signified the entrance to Hateno village. The people there primarily Hylian, with a few Shiekah here and there. 

Their numbers were large, and some were speaking in groups, and some were performing separate tasks. Farmers in overalls were tilling soil, a woman was seen beating the dust out of a rug, a man was seen petting a dog and feeding it a carrot, and nearest the market there were groups of traders in small clusters speaking to one another. It was cozy, and considerably more populated than Kakariko.

Link could see the amazed look on peoples faces as the two walked by, and held on to the princes arm to provide him comfort. The most attention from the citizens, however, was being paid to a middle aged zora near a completely wooden building next to a plot of farmland. The average sized Zora was speaking to a group of onlookers, the closest of which was an older Hylian man, arms crossed, wearing a pink bandana-like rope around his head, and a vibrant pair of similarly pink pants and a blue puffy jacket. 

Everyone was nodding intently at the Zora as he spoke, yet he perked up to the demanding stature of the prince. He was fairly short, dark blue, and held a large satchel along with a gigantic bag on his back. He pointed a finger to the prince.

“Annnnd that-" He cut himself off to laugh in amazement at the princes sudden appearance. "That is our Prince!” His voice was animated, nearly cartoonish with how friendly and nasally it was. “What on earth brings you here?” Everyone craned their heads to Sidon, and he straightened up to speak with faux confidence in his voice.

“Hello everyone! I am Prince Sidon, son of King Dorephan, and heir to the throne of the Zora people. This is my consort, and my only, Link!" Link blushed at being put into the spotlight, but being called Sidon's only more than made up for it. "We're here to do a bit of shopping, touch base with some of the traders with how we're getting around."

"Prince Sidon, you're dating now? You're dating a _Hylian?_ Whatever you do, do _not_ tell the elders, they'll have your head!" The dorky sounding Zora chuckled, much to everyone but Sidon's confusion.

"Aha, well, I won't be doing that, my father will. You're the Scholar, I take it?" He nodded, clapping his hands together and rocking on his feet excitedly, and taking a bow to the prince.

"Eyup! Im Deene, I'm speaking with these fine folks about scribing some of our records and setting up classes to educate the masses! If you're looking for the soldiers who escorted me here, check the town shop."

"They plan going back to the domain, yes?" Deene nodded.

"Yessir, do you need me to have them take somethin' back for ya, or?" Sidon shook his head, and spoke above the crowd.

"Just, if you could, tell them to inform my father of my own safety." Dean nodded knowingly, rocking back and forth on his feet.

"Absolutely, what is our loving king if not a worrywart?" Sidon shrugged, and shot the nerdy Zora a smile.

The short, bearded, pink pants wearing man spoke. 

"What's this about traders?" His voice was fairly flat, and extremely _normal_ for how outlandish and flamboyant his appearance was. Sidon reiterated, clarifying his comment.

"Not necessarily traders, just people who happen to travel a lot. We ride on Vah Ruta to get around." Their collective eyes widened, and murmuring began peppering the crowd, and Deene spoke up with an exasperated stutter. 

"Prince Sidon, you _rode_ that thing here?" The man with the white beard spoke after.

"Ya'know, if I were him, and _I_ had the opportunity to let people know I'm riding a giant death machine, I probably would!"

Sidon waved his arms to clarify, and Link spoke up, stepping forward a bit.

"Well, no, we tamed it, it's completely safe. We try to take routes far away from where people walk." Sidon nodded, and followed up her point.

"We just don't want anyone to think the world is at its end if they see it, you know?" 

Murmurs still fluttered among the crowd, and the bearded Hylian spoke again.

"Okey-doo, that's good to know. I'm Bolson! I run construction in Hateno. I'd consider myself an unofficial mayor, but Hateno at large would probably have my head." He held out a hand and gave both Sidon and Link a firm handshake. "You and your prince boyfriend are welcome here! 'Specially if you could tame Ruta! That's wacko! I don't wanna mess with anyone with that kinda moxie." Link cracked up, and responded to the man.

"Well we plan to do the rest, so."

The nasally scholar spoke, pulling his slumping backpack that threatened to slide off of his wiry frame. To Link, he kind of looked like the Zora version of Beedle.

"You plan to do the _rest?_ " He threw up his arms in exasperated sarcasm. "You two gonna destroy Calamity Ganon while...you're...at…" he paused, their stern expressions answered his question. "Oh." Link spoke at his pause.

"Yup. We plan to do that with the help of the other two beasts we haven't tamed yet!" The crowd yet again went into a foray of excited mumblings. Bolson furrowed his brow at the Hylian, and cocked his head, studying her.

Suddenly, Link could notice Sidon get poked with a stick by a very small child among the group of children they saw chasing a dog earlier.

"How'd you get so tall?" Link cracked up laughing unapologetically, as Sidon struggled to answer. The boy was freckled, gap-toothed with messy hair and had beady eyes, much like the rest of the little group.

"My mother and father were both very tall!"

The kid didn't miss a single beat before asking another question.

"Why are you so red and shiny?" Sidon giggled along with Link, and the prince played along by asking him a question.

"Why is your hair so black?" The kid pouted. 

"Cause I was born with it this way!" He nodded.

"And I was born all red and shiny! It works the same way!" The kids let all let out oohs and aahs of amazement.

"What are you?" Sidon thought for a moment.

"I'm a tall, red, shiny prince, and I'm here to make friends with your village, do you think that's okay with you four?" The ratty haired child nodded at his question. "Well that's good to hear, otherwise we'd have to turn around and leave, wouldn't we Link?" Link smiled at the prince, who gave her a playful wink. Seeing him play along with the kids made her heart flutter.

"Yeah! And we just got here, too!" The prince smiled as she played along.

"What a shame it would be, my dearest."

A little blonde haired girl in the group spoke.

"Is she your princess?" Sidon and Link looked at each other, and she could see how flushed his cheeks were just as much as hers felt at the question.

"Yes. She's my princess." The black haired one stuck out his tongue.

"That's gross, girls are icky." Sidon nodded agreeingly, and looked at Link.

"She is fairly icky, that's why I have to keep her from everyone else. She's _contagious."_

Link blushed feverishly, and gave him a playful slap on the arm.

The curly haired dog that the two saw earlier came rushing through the town gates, dirty and barking happily.

"There's Vazoo! Get him!" The kids zipped off, each giving an adorable battle cry as they chased the excited dog around the town. 

“Well, they were cute.” Link nudged him as he stared at the children with reverie.

“You’re good with kids, aren’t you, prince?” He shrugged.

“I’m really not, I just grew up with my father tending to the little ones during their classes. I forgot how small their attention spans can be, though.” Link chuckled and turned her head to the crowd, who had gone back to listening to Deene talk. 

“Hey, supercouple.” The two turned to Bolson, who was standing nearer than before.

“I don’t wanna bother ya too much but, I couldn’t help but notice your name. Link? Are you related to the hero guy from the calamity? You look like him.” 

Her eyes darted from side to side. _People know about me here, too?_ She looked up to Sidon, who didn’t know how to respond to him either. 

“Yeah, he’s my... graaandfather.” She winced as the answer fumbled out of her mouth, and Bolson’s eyes widened. Upon further inspection, it looked like he was wearing eyeliner. Flawless, piercing black eyeliner. Link couldn't help but notice how much it worked on his face. 

“No way, that’s crazy! That’s too much! What a coincidence!” He held a hand to his face in amazement as he spoke. “I didn’t think anyone from his line actually made it so far! My father leased a home to the man. That home has been long since abandoned since the boy _paid_ for the thing in _full_ before he croaked _._ Could you believe it? A boy at his age, having children and paying for houses. Anyway-” He inhaled a large breath. “KARSON!” 

Sidon and Link were startled by his yell, and Bolson shrugged.

“He’s an associate. And my keyholder.” A fit, clean shaven Hylian man, a bit older than Link’s age approached from the crowd. 

“Yes! What’s goin on?” Bolson held out a hand at the bemused associate. 

“Hand me the old champions key, please. Our friend Link here is a descendant.” Karson perked up at Link.

“Wait, the blondie?” Bolson huffed and shook his head.

“No, the seven foot tall Zora, YES the blondie!” Karson fished a key from a keyring on his belt, and handed the rusty thing to Bolson, who handed it to Link. She took it carefully, and confusedly. Sidon spoke.

“Are you implying that she just _take_ the house?” Bolson shrugged.

“I don’t see why not! No one has touched it since the calamity! It’s just been sitting there! That one, right there, see?” 

He pointed to a little home; a cottage looking abode tucked in neatly with the rest of the town. It looked overgrown with vines, and uncared for compared to the neatly kept houses that surrounded the road. “I would have torn it down by now, but Hateno doesn't really own it! It’s outta my hands!”

“So, I just...have that house now? That's just a house I _own?_ ” Bolson nodded, holding an elbow with his hand and resting his head on the other. 

“Yup. That’s what I’m sayin. I was preeetty close to just tearing it down, or just... _losing_ the deed, if you know what I mean. Good to know I don't have to break laws anytime soon!” She looked at the rusty key in her hand, decrepit and threatening to fall apart. 

“T-thank you.” Bolson nodded, brushing a bug off of his jacket. 

“Thank YOU for saving me the trouble! If there’s anything I love, it’s legal loopholes and saving rupees. Now that im done botherin ya, i'll leave you two to your business. Just don't forget the first friend you made here, eh?” Bolson gave a wink, and Link nodded confusedly.

“Link, do you want to have a look?” Sidon casually pointed at the house, and she shrugged. She was sort of afraid of what would be on the other side.

“Maybe? What do you think?” Sidon smiled, and rested a hand on her shoulder. 

“I think I want to see what’s in there, I’m _too_ curious now.” She nodded, smiling and blushing at him. The two walked along the road, slowly approaching the house.

“I’m not surprised you could pay for it. Being the guard of the Hylian princess herself probably meant you were just as wealthy as the royal bloodline itself.” She huffed nervously as the two walked to the heavy looking wooden door. The small window that was fixed in top of the door to show the inside was cloudy, dusty with age, and the vines threatened to overgrow the whole thing. 

She slid the key in the hole, and it fought back with the rust that had settled on the metal.

“Want me to try?” She stepped aside, and Sidon carefully jiggled the key inside the keyhole, and the two heard the tumblers react. “After you, Link!” 

She pushed the door, and the rusty joints of the door squealed in response to being pushed for the first time in a hundred years. First and foremost, the room was swarming with floating dust particles that were visible through the evening sunbeams from outside. 

The room was what Link would call almost boringly homely, save for the aging surroundings. Few beautiful paintings of mountains and creeks lined the walls, a large curio cabinet with knick knacks and dishes, a big, fluffy bed that was visibly _covered_ in dust and bits of the ceiling from the shaking of the calamity. There was a cabinet that was hastily thrown open, and flowing from it were many of the same tunics that she had found near the temple of time. There was a little half open door on the other side of the home that held a bath and a toilet. It was all fairly dull; something that she would describe as fitting for what her life used to be.

“My, look at that.” Sidon pointed to a sword slid firmly into a sheath next to a similarly beautiful royal Hylian shield. “That deserves a museum of its own, I’ve never seen anything so perfectly preserved.” 

“This is so weird, Sidon.” He nodded, and the two took careful steps inside.

“It’s quite strange, it’s even weirder considering you lived this way. Forgive me if I sound rude, but it's hard to believe this place used to suit you.”

“It definitely does not.” She chuckled, “I would redecorate if given the chance.” Link noticed the fireplace that had an ancient looking wok set inside, and thought for a moment. “I guess we have a place to cook dinner tonight, right?” He nodded, holding up the shield that laid carefully in a stand near Link’s old bed.

“You plan to cook tonight, hm?” Link smiled brightly at her boyfriend.

“Yes, absolutely. I want to make you food, prince!” He knitted his brow lovingly and smiled at the girl.

“I can't wait to try it, my dearest.” Link opened the door to the large curio cabinet, and examined the inside. 

“Do you by chance remember any of this? At _all?”_ She shook her head, scanning her vision over seemingly random items. Figurines, dolls, plates, an ocarina. _Wait._

She grabbed the cool blue sweet potato ocarina from the cabinet, and studied its glossy exterior. A memory was teasing itself forward, yet she couldn’t place it. She ran her fingers over, moving the dust from the mouthpiece, and blew into it. 

“Ah! What was tha-” Sidon looked at her in awe as she held the ancient relic. “Oh! An ocarina! You used to play?” She shrugged, staring at the instrument intently.

“I have... _no_ idea. I think so? She blew into it again, and pressed her fingers on different holes. “I’ve got nothing.” She set it down in the cabinet again. Sidon sat at the edge of her bed, the rickety wood of its frame squeaking in protest, and he watched her as she searched the room. 

She pulled open the drawers from the cabinet of clothes, and began rifling through what was inside as the prince eyed her curiously. _Tunic, tunic, tunic, tunic._ She paused.

"Oh, Hylia." Tucked and folded discreetly at the bottom back of the drawer was a number of women's clothing. A few shirts with deep necklines and very short sleeves, a bra, some underwear. They were so disturbingly familiar to her. She felt her mind scramble and flood with recollection. She could remember a pale faced, bright blue eyed Hylian speaking with her outside of her home.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Just be ready tomorrow morning. As early as you wake, in fact. We have a long trek ahead of us to Gerudo town." He nodded at the princess, her expression showing concern, yet he could tell she knew that there was no point in asking him what was wrong. Link opened the entryway to his home, slamming the door behind him, and the frames that held his paintings shook against the walls in response as he pulled the helmet that laid on his head off and dropped it to the floor with a _clack._ He was sweaty from a full day of training recruits while Zelda spoke with the Hateno mayor, and getting to have a moment of respite from the suffocating job was his favorite part of being in the town. It's not that he didn't like the princess, or the Hylian royal line, it just had a tendency to be... overstimulating. 

Zelda was very passionate, and talked at length of the things that she took extreme interest in. Growing Hyrule beyond what they had claimed, political affairs, the recent excavations of ancient Sheikah technology, she went on and on, and Link could only wish himself to feel more interested in any of it, or _anything,_ for that matter. 

Link made sure his door was firmly locked before he undid the fastenings that held the chain and plate mail to his body, and slid from the steel, oven-like garment. 

He drew a bath in his closet-sized bathroom, and submerged himself in its refreshing cool water. The boy sighed, the muffled sounds of the still busy village outside was cutting through what would have been complete silence.

Link felt like all he wanted at any given time was complete silence; to be free of nagging thought and anxiety, to feel normal. 

The _idea_ of mingling throughout crowds and talking with the Princess as they went from place to place was a very nice thought to him in theory, yet in any instance, he felt he was simply a steadfast sword, and had only known being most comfortable as a person to be talked at, not with. With this thought, he heaved a heavy sigh, and unplugged the drain as he pulled himself out of his tub. 

Link enjoyed the cool air regulating his body temperature after such a hot day, feeling the cold sensation against his wet skin as he walked into his living room.

He pulled his drawer open, and searched through the pile of tunics haphazardly stuffed in the drawer. None of them were clean. They were never clean. He rarely washed or folded any of them. 

His eyes fell on the neatly folded clothes in the back of his drawer, his strange secret that he dared never let anyone know.

He had been with Zelda in her quarters when he saw the garments, and in a bold move he took what he could while she had left the room for a moment. A few pairs of underwear, a bra, and a few shirts. If anyone knew he had done this, he'd be put in jail for sure. Stealing from the princess was a criminal offense, but stealing her _clothes?_ He'd be abhorred as a freak, a pervert. Yet, as he slid them on, and he felt the comforting tightness of the panties and bra, and the shirt that hugged his sides and showed off his milky collarbone, he felt _calm._ Everything in his mind told him that he should feel strange, like a freak of nature, but he felt so intensely _calm,_ and the staticky anxious chaos fell to silence in his mind as he laid his body down on his bed.

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"Link? Are you okay?" Sidon's soothing, caring voice brought her clarity, and she turned around and grabbed onto him in a shaky hug. "Oh, my lovely, what's wrong?"

"I remembered something." He rubbed her back, wincing at her nervous voice, and asked a question.

"Do you wish to talk about it, sweetheart?"

"I just...I remembered Zelda. I remembered how lonely I used to feel even though she cared so much about me. I was so suffocated with things to do and people to talk to and yet I felt so alone." 

"Oh, Link. I do know that feeling, I'm so dreadfully sorry." He pulled back and studied her teary eyes. "Life in the domain was much the same before I met you, I'm afraid." She sniffled. 

"And life before I've made this change was so rigid and messy. Look." She pulled away from the prince's grasp, and grabbed the handful of clothes that laid in the back of the drawer.

Sidon blushed as she handed them to him, and she plopped beside him and rested her head on his side. 

_"_ Oh my." She nodded, rubbing her head against the loving prince.

 _"_ I used to look forward to coming here _just_ so I could put those on for like…six hours. Then I'd have to put them back and leave again." He frowned deeply, running a finger across the bundle of cloth.

"I'm sure that time feels like a past life to you now, yes?" She shook her head.

"I can still feel how much I wanted things to get better. I hated my life so much, prince."

"Link, you sweet girl. Come." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him, and she immediately relaxed. "You have so much more time to make that life seem insignificant by comparison. There's so many more years to live, so many more to enjoy while you're comfortable in your own skin. There's years to make your old shackles of uncomfortability feel like nothing more than _thimbles."_ She sniffled and looked up at the prince.

"What are thimbles?" He chuckled, giving a soft, loving kiss on her forehead.

"Little metal cups one wears on their finger to help them sew." She giggled, and kissed his arm that was holding her so closely.

"You're such a dork." Sidon shrugged as he looked at the little pile of clothes in his free hand.

"It's the only analogy that came to mind!" 

"Well it worked." He smiled, blushing the familiar green tinted blue that flooded his cheeks. Link spoke, holding a hand out to get the clothes from Sidon. "All things considered, these clothes are really cute." Sidon chuckled and nodded immediately as she took them from him and studied them longer.

"To be truthful, that's the first thing I thought when I saw all of them as well!" She blushed, looking at the panties that she held in her hands and wondering if the prince was thinking of her in them. 

"All of them?" He nodded, and moved his gaze to the underwear and realized what he had said.

"Uh! Y-" She could see his blushing face scramble for an answer in his head, until he sighed in defeat. "Absolutely. You are a very beautiful creature. Imagining you in anything takes my breath away." She flushed a deep red at his compliment. 

"You're beautiful too, prince." She gave him another peck on the arm, and he took hers and planted polite, loving kisses on the back of her hand. "These belonged to Princess Zelda."

The prince's face flushed and he pulled away.

"Were you two?…" Her eyes darted open as she shook her head.

"No! Gah, no, I um. I stole them." The prince quirked his brow. 

"You did what you had to do to feel comfortable, even if you _technically_ committed a crime." Link cracked up, and she relaxed and laid her head down on the princes legs.

"What a wonderful way to put it, prince." 

The two chuckled, and she felt his warmth on the back of her neck as her head laid on Sidon's lap.

"I guess you truly bring out the wordsmith in me, my dearest." 

She looked at the black, short sleeved shirt, and glanced over at Sidon.

"Should I try it on?" The prince nodded immediately in approval.

“Oh, yes, I would _love_ to see you in that!” She shot up, her head bumping against the prince, and Sidon responded with an _oof._

She trotted off, shutting the rickety door behind her and sliding off her red jacket. She saw that she had a mirror on the wall of the bathroom, it was murky and old, but it still reflected her image quite well. 

She slid her usual white, loosely fitting shirt off of her body, and stretched the familiar shirt over her figure. It hugged her sides perfectly, and she chose to just wear the shirt, forgoing the jacket. She pushed the door open slowly, and the prince’s expression melted into one of adoration. 

“Oh, my dearest, you look _beautiful,_ come here.” She shyly walked up to the prince, and he gently held her by her sides. He planted a kiss on her forehead, and lovingly pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m sure there’s more in the shops here if you’d like to look around before we eat, yes?” She nodded, and rubbed her face on his crest, giving him little kisses. She found herself absolutely drunk off of the feeling of being affectionate with her boyfriend, and when she got that feeling, she didn’t want it to stop. 

She felt him lean into her little butterfly kisses, and grip her more tightly. 

“Ah, I...You are so amazing, Link.” She moved her head from his crest and met his gaze.

“Let’s go, I’m hungry!” He nodded, giving one more kiss on her forehead before standing. 

“Of course, yes! Do you think we’ll be staying here tonight?” She cocked her head. 

“Like, in Hateno Village?” She opened the door out into the evening light, the streets less populated than before. Sidon shook his head.

“Ah, sorry, I mean in your old bed.” She flushed, remembering that the two slept next to each other last night, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. 

“Oh! Y-yeah, sure! I’d really like that.” The two walked along the grey, stone brick path of the village, and came across a building that had a sign with a little green shirt painted on it.

"Think this is it?" Link nodded, and the two entered the quiet building. 

As it was in Gerudo, the walls were lined with simple mannequins wearing different articles of clothing, all in a fairly average sized Hylian figure.

"Hm, Hateno Huddle really isn't all that inaccurate." Sidon mused as he looked around the dark wood interior, noting the candlelit atmosphere. Link could see a good number of things she wanted. Some leggings, a cute, large billowing sun hat, a pair of nicely hemmed short shorts that looked like they would work for her legs. She was lucky she was so brazen in the wild, looting diamonds and various shiny things from the crazed bokoblins that inhabited Hyrule's crevices had definitely paid off for her wallet. 

"Find anything ya like, darlin'?" A female voice spoke. The Hylian shop owner looked sleepy. Her eyes were baggy and her hair was frizzy, but she looked and sounded very mellow and happy. She showed the owner the shorts, sun hat and leggings, along with a new bra, and she nodded agreeingly.

"One sec!" The Hylian owner looked the pile over for a moment and nodded. "500 rupees, please!" Link handed the nice woman her rupees, and thanked her kindly. "Who's your tall friend?" As Link turned, she saw Sidon, who was nearly having to crane his head to even stand in the little shop, idly looking through some of the clothes, more as a spectacle, than anything. 

"That's the prince of the Zora people." 

"Yeah, he definitely looks that important." As she said this, the prince bumped his head on a wooden beam above him and stumbled back a bit, wincing in pain. The two giggled at his clumsiness, and Sidon looked at Link from afar and blushed embarrassingly.

"Oh, he's _adorable_." She whispered. Link nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes he is. He's always that cute." Sidon approached as Link grabbed a paper bag to her clothes from the owner.

"How are things, my dearest?" The owner perked up.

"And you're dating him, look at you go, sis."

Link saw the owner wink, and she smiled back knowingly as the two walked away.

"What about dating me?" Link smiled.

"That girl and I were talking about how cute you are!" Sidon chuckled.

"Is it because I bumped my head?" She giggled at him, nudging him playfully with her shoulder.

"No! Yes! Yes, but no! That was cute, but you're just cute in general!" She watched as he shot her a toothy grin, the one that she fell so hard for the first time she saw it. 

The marketplace was still somewhat busy, the tarps that were erected to provide shade earlier in the day cast shadows over the traders, and they were all illuminated by their own lamplights. According to the recipe for curry, they had everything it called for. As she picked out the things she needed, Sidon's attention was grabbed by Deene, who was standing surveying the trading posts outside of a nearby building. 

"Howdy there, Prince Sidon! Sorry about earlier, I was so caught up in so many things at once!" Sidon waved a hand.

"Nonsense, if you're busy doing what you've been _studying_ to do for so long, why should I be allowed to break your concentration?" Deene perked up and spoke immediately.

"Because you're the prince! Kinda takes precedence over everything else, but I digress!" The scholar inhaled a deep breath, and spoke again.

"I've set up some classes with a number of the scholars here, so that I may impart with them my scholar-y knowledge, and I let the rest of Hateno know what you're using to get around."

Sidon raised a brow. 

"You did all that for Link and I?" He nodded quickly, adjusting one of the straps on his backpack. 

"I did I did! It's not a tough task to tackle when you have the whole town's attention. I'll be here for quite some time, and I already like treating the village like it's my own." Sidon nodded warmly.

"Well you're a very welcoming addition to its people, Deene. Hateno appreciates you greatly." He habitually fixed the strap on his back again.

"And _I_ appreciate that compliment, Prince Sidon! I'll probably be in the rec center over there if you need me from here on out, doin' history and trading classes and such." He pointed to a building fairly far away from the road, large planks of dark wood made up its structuring. 

"Of course, we'll probably be here until tomorrow if you need us as well!" He waved the scholar off, and he could feel Link bump him with a big paper bag. He turned to meet her gaze.

"Hi there, prince." Sidon chuckled and blushed, looking at the little Hylian lovingly.

"Hello, bright-eyed girl. Want me to carry that?" 

"Yes please." She squeaked from the mountainous bag she was holding, heaving it forward, and Sidon lifted its weight with an arm, leaving the Hylian to huff in relief.

"Thank you, prince." He nodded as the two walked, the bluish tint in the sky has given way to twinkling stars over a black backdrop as the fireflies began flickering in and out near the trees.

“How have you liked life outside of the domain, Sidon?” The prince readjusted the bag he was carrying.

“It’s all very overwhelming. Seeing illustrations of Hylian architecture and farmland in books for one hundred years, and then _suddenly_ seeing them in reality is...oddly dreamlike. Like that windmill.” He pointed with a thumb behind him at the still windmill that laid at the top of the town. “I’m aware it's a windmill, I’ve _known_ of them for literally a hundred years, and that serves to make them all the more perplexing to see in real life.” Link glanced back, and looked to him. 

“I felt the same way about the domain. The first time I saw a luminous stone, I thought it was magic.” He chuckled as she opened the door to her ancient abode.

“I do not blame you, they have a history of being used in alchemy, unsurprisingly.” Link quirked an eyebrow as Sidon set the bag of ingredients down.

“No, I can’t say that surprises me at all.” She smiled, and looked in the wok that was laying lopsided in the fireplace. It was full of soot and dust.

“I’m gonna have to clean this, aren’t I?” She mumbled, as Sidon plopped down contentedly on the bed, watching the dust rise and fall from the sheets

“Clean what, dear- ooh.” He watched as the large wok trailed dirt and ash onto the wooden flooring as she walked into the bathroom and set the pot down in the tub, turning on the brassy looking spigot. Surprisingly, water began flowing forth from its piping, and she got on her knees to clean the ancient thing. “This is so gross, Sidon.” 

He chuckled at the girl through his gills as she drained the murky water from the cast iron. 

“Do you need any help?” She shook her head.

“No, it’s okay! I’ve been through worse.” He could really only see the back of her head, the arch of her back, and her arms as she mercilessly scrubbed away. 

“How worse is _worse?”_ She scoffed as she turned off the faucet, giving the pot a good _bang_ against the tub and lifting it out, moving it to set it back in the fireplace. 

“Sleeping in a bokoblin encampment is worse, I think.” Sidon cocked his head and gave a look of disgust.

“What do they even sleep in?” She chuckled, grabbing the recipe card from her bag, and gave it a look over before grabbing the ingredients she had picked up. 

“They don't sleep _in_ anything, they sleep _on_ gross, bloody animal pelts. Outside.” He gasped, and knitted his brow in worry. 

“You slept outside? On the pelt of a dead animal? Oh, Link. You’ll never have to do that again, okay? You deserve so much better than that.” She exchanged a loving look with the prince.

“I didn’t think I did until I met you, prince.” She stoked a fire with a flint tied to a chunk of steel that sat conveniently next to the fireplace, setting the oiled pan into the metal frame above the fire. 

“I hope you’re ready to eat something that isn’t fish.” He perked up, looking at the small paper package of meat that she tossed casually between her hands.

“What is it?” He asked, cocking his head curiously. 

“It’s chicken!” He gulped as she unwrapped the slimy looking pink cuts of meat lined with white fat, and she threw them in the searing hot pan. Sidon had only ever been used to eating the same things for a hundred years.

“Oh my, please don’t take offense if I find it too offsetting.” She shook her head.

“I promise, you’ll like it.” She softened some onions in the pan and began tossing in other ingredients to follow them.

"Wow, Link, you look as though you've been doing this for years." The girl chuckled.

"Maybe I did before the calamity, I don't know." He enjoyed the sights and smells of the steaming pan, but took true enjoyment watching Link's calm and contented expression as she portioned out ingredients and happily laid them in the wok. 

Sidon's mind in regards to the food changed from worried to excited and intrigued as the smells became more refined and rich in depth. Salty meat and earthy spices.

Link noticed the trance he was in, and smiled.

"See? I told you, you’ll like it. Ah, I missed that smell so much." The prince nodded agreeingly.

"I've never smelled anything like that, but it is quite something." Link pressed her lips together and looked to the prince as she stirred the mixture. 

"Sidon?" He looked to her quizzical stare.

"Hm? Yes, my dearest?"

"What do you use to smell?" He smiled and chuckled at her innocent question.

"Zora have nostrils, their placement just depends on what classification they are. I’m part saltwater Zora, and inherited most of my traits from my mother, so I have them right below my crest, see?" He pointed to two little tiny slits below his crest. “Freshwater Zora smell through their gills.” He paused, watching Links face as she nodded in agreement. "Is that at all strange to you?" Link scrunched her face up in worry.

"Of course not. I love hearing you talk about stuff like this. I love hearing about you.”

“I love hearing about you too, my dearest. That being said, we’re physiologically different, interspecies couplings have had a rickety past among the Zora people.” Link paled, and looked at him worriedly while stirring a heaping splash of cream into the pot.

“I’m sure this isn't the first time a Zora and a Hylian have been together, right?” He rubbed his chin with a hand, and he raised his brow. 

“Oh, no, Zora and Hylian relationships pop up all over recorded history. One of my favorite books growing up was about an interspecies couple. Many of the elders loved using literature like that as example of the Zora people being ‘Driven from their own culture by the Hylians.’ a bunch of dribble if you ask me.”

Link blew the fire out, and grabbed some bowls for the both of them. 

“Oh no, Sidon! You’re being brainwashed by my strange and riveting Hylian ways!” He laughed heartily, and leaned on the bed from where he was sitting. 

“It’s definitely working, Link. Consider me conquered.” She handed him a pair of chopsticks and a white bowl filled to the brim with chicken curry and rice. Link excitedly watched as he tentatively took his first bite, and his eyes lit up and went through thousands of positive reactions in an instant.

“Oh my, I didn’t even know these flavors existed.” Link hopped up and down excitedly, making little thumping sounds in the floorboards.

“I _know!!”_ He took another large bite, completely floored by how different it was compared to Zora cuisine. 

“How did I not know my taste buds could register this flavor, it’s like seeing a different _color_ for the first time. _”_ She giggled as she took a bite, and slapped the bed in ecstasy. 

_“_ YEP. I _agree!_ ” Sidon smiled at her with a mouthful of food, and swallowed.

 _“_ You’re an _excellent_ cook, Link.” Link smiled, blushing at her proud boyfriend.

“Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that.” She set down her chopsticks for a moment and scooted a little closer to the Zora. “So, what was the book you really liked about?” 

Sidon held up a finger, and swallowed politely before speaking.

“I liked a lot of them, but the one that I constantly kept going back to was a story about a seafaring knight and his lover.” Link quirked an eyebrow.

“Was one of them a Zora and one of them a Hylian?” He shook his head. 

“No, unfortunately. One was a Hylian and one was a Rito! They sailed and captured bounties, played music together in towns they’d come across on their travels, and searched together for a fountain of everlasting life, so that they may live together forever more.” 

“How does it end?” Sidon made a gesture of zipping his lips.

“What if I want to read it to you? I’m not going to give away such secrets!" She opened her mouth slightly in a look of awe, and smiled.

“You want to _read_ it to me?! Sidon, that’s so cute!” She shook him excitedly by a shoulder, and Sidon flushed, pausing from taking a generous bite of curry. 

“Reading the book of the history of the Deku tree to you was...so wonderful, Link.” She blushed feverishly, and smiled.

“I only fell asleep because of how relaxed your voice makes me.” He smirked, and set his chopsticks back in his bowl. She grabbed his empty tableware, and took both of theirs over next to the wok. “You want any more?” 

“No, thank you!” He leaned back in the dusty bed. “You know, getting to carry you to bed was also a highlight of that day.” 

“Yeah? Getting to carry my limp body was a highlight?” He chuckled out of his gills as she walked over and sat in the bed with him.

“Yes! It absolutely was! Is that a bad thing?” She shook her head.

“No. I think it’s really cute that you like carrying me.” The prince hummed affirmatively, watching her as she fished her new shorts and sunhat out of their bags.

“I’m gonna go try these on, okay?” 

“Of course!” She trotted over to the bathroom, and shut the door behind her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing a chapter that's completely from Sidon's perspective and I'm pretty excited for it. The fic is past 100,000 words by now and I don't plan on stopping aaaaanytime soon. If you plan to stick it out with me, that's really cool, and I love you, and thank you. I feel like at the start of this thing, I really didn't know what I was doing, and wish I could have written the first few chapters a lil bit better. I gotta get better somehow, right?


	17. My body temperature is so normal all the time!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this chapter has random inner dialogue of sexual desires and such. Also it starts out in Sidon's perspective, and switches to Link's right after.  
> When I do change perspecives later on, it'll be for longer periods of time.

He sat up, eyeing the cabinet that had so many assorted knick knacks in it. He sauntered over to the large cabinet, and pulled open the glossy little glass door that was cloudy with age. 

The ocarina still laid there, shining in the dim light of the oversized bedroom. 

Sidon carefully put it in his hands, and examined its intricacies further. 

It was positively _immaculate._ Near the mouthpiece, his eyes caught the gleaming golden pattern of the triforce, the visual representation of the legendary blessing from the three goddesses that created life and the entire realm as they knew it. 

Sidon knew of the legends, it was hard for anyone to not know at this point.

He _knew_ Link bears a piece of that triforce, branded into her very soul. 

Her incarnations were doomed to go tooth and nail to banish and vanquish evil, time and time again through every recounting and retelling among countless millennia. It baffled him that she could simply just accept this.

_Does she know the weight of this burden?_

The legend had been written so many times that scholars who study it can accurately _predict_ when Ganon will strike, and that fact sent a shiver down Sidon’s spine. If he had the choice, he would break that curse for her. He wished it didn’t have to be her burden to bear. 

“Sidon, look!” The prince whipped around, and was greeted by Link wearing her new short shorts, along with her tight shirt and sunhat. 

“Oh, Link, you look like a little gardener! You’re absolutely _precious!”_ He scooped her up, and she fell into a fit of giggles as he spun her around, before gently setting her down again.

“I feel really cute in these!” He nodded agreeingly, noticing her pale, bare legs for the first time. 

They looked like a sculpture to the prince. Like a professional had used clay to intricately shape them into _perfection,_ from her little knob-like kneecaps, to her plump thighs.

“You okay?” He shot his gaze up at her, and his face grew hot.

“You’re very, _very_ cute in them, my dearest. Breathtaking.” The tips of her ears grew red, and she went in for a hug, and he very gladly wrapped his arms around her small figure, kissing her forehead and feeling her sigh contentedly in his arms. 

She was so warm for such a small girl, her heat radiated off of her as he felt her heart beat through her chest. “Are you feeling sleepy at all?” 

She shook her head, pulling back and smiling at him, her eyes half lidded open.

“Are you certain? You look just a _bit_ tired.” She pouted. 

“No, I’m just...very happy.” She yawned hard, and Sidon could feel her shiver from how intense it was. “Okay, nevermind, let’s go to bed, prince.” Sidon blushed as she said this, and he felt like he’d never get used to hearing the girl of his dreams tell him that.

“Absolutely.” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link snuffed out the few lantern lights in the room, and crawled into bed next to the waiting prince. She flicked her little luminous stone necklace, and saw his face light up at seeing her.

She also noticed him shift uncomfortably from putting his weight on his epaulette, and the hard looking belt he wore around his waist. 

“Sidon, you don’t have to wear those, it looks uncomfortable.” He raised his eyebrows, and looked at his shoulders. 

“Oh, I suppose I don’t, do I? I rarely take them off, honestly.” Even if it was just a few pieces of simple, flashy armor, the clacks they made on the floor made it feel like he was getting naked in front of the girl. 

For what felt like the millionth time that day, her face flushed hot, and she felt her shorts struggle to contain her excitement at seeing him with no adornments on his person.

She flicked her little luminous stone again, and scooted closer into the welcoming arms of her boyfriend. She felt a lock of her hair fall over her face, and the prince moved it out of the way, taking the opportunity to cup her cheek delicately and run his thumb on her feminene jawline. 

She felt her heart do acrobatics, and her breath knocked itself out of her lungs as he gazed at her adoringly. She felt so in _love_ with him, and everything he did just made her fall further.

“This is okay, right, my dearest?” He spoke in a quiet tone. 

She felt a lump in her throat keeping her from saying yes, but she nodded, staring at the prince in awe. She felt his hand that held her face reach to the nape of her neck, rubbing right under her hair, moving to run his fingers through her golden locks. The butterflies multiplied in her stomach, and the hardness in her pants was creating a small, wet dot in the front of her underwear. The lovely, citrusy, smoky smell of the prince intoxicated her as she drew closer to his form, feeling the warmth coming off of him. In a careful motion, Sidon placed a hand on her hip, and pulled her to his body. If it weren’t for her erection, she would be in heaven pressed up against his body like that. Instead, however, the firmness jabbed at his hip, and his brow shot up in surprise. She pushed back, creating space between her and the prince.

“Prince, I…” He stared at her, his face unreadable, and he stammered as well. 

“H-hey, it’s okay...you don't need to be sorry for that.” She pulled back further, recoiling into herself and crossing her arms to her chest. The luminous stone dimmed, and nearly died.

She heard the cloth of the bed shuffle as he moved his arm over to her necklace, and as the light from it threatened to completely fizzle, he flicked it, and she could see his worried expression completely brightened by stone’s luminosity. 

“I’m sorry, I went too fa-” She shook her head, and interrupted the prince, quickly exchanging his frown with her own. 

“It’s not that, prince. I’m just...ah, I wish I knew how to explain it better.” He placed his hand down between the two of them, and she rested her hand in his palm. She moved to intertwine their fingers together, and felt her heart thump in response to the tingling it gave her in her chest.

“I want you to know that you’re the most beautiful woman I've ever had the chance to lay my eyes on. Nothing will change that. Not ever.” Her eyes stung with tears as he said this.

“But you could have literally _any_ girl _,_ prince. One that doesn’t have a…” He gripped her hand, and his gaze sharpened at her.

“I’ve never met any one person that can make me feel like you do. I simply don’t _want_ anyone else, Link. There’s not a part of you that I don’t see as female.” her eyes drifted across his worried face, he looked positively broken at her pain.

“I’m sorry being with me is difficult.” He shook his head, his worry deepening.

“There’s nothing difficult about caring for you, and making sure you’re comfortable.” She sniffled. 

“I um...I did love being that close to you, prince.” He chuckled, and flicked her luminous stone again, offering his hand.

“Would you like to come back, my princess?” She flushed bright red, and felt her breath stop again. She placed her hand in his, and pulled, coming closer and pressing her body against his. The euphoric feeling of touching him so intimately sparked across her arms and legs in pleasurable shocks. Sidon began to kiss her head, the small smacking sound of his lips pressing against her coupled with the safe feeling of his embrace made her let out a moan of happiness. 

"I feel so beautiful with you, Sidon." 

He squeezed her, pressing a hand against her back.

"There's absolutely nothing I want more than to make you feel that way, Link." She melted as the luminous stone dimmed around her neck. She felt herself falling into sleep’s clutches as the seconds passed by, embraced by her boyfriend and serenaded by the sounds of the crickets outside lulling the two into peaceful slumber.

The sun cracking through the cloudy windows woke the girl, and she felt Sidon's arms grasp her closer to him as she opened her sleepy eyes to meet him.

"Hello, my prince." He smiled, his lips parting slightly in an expression of awe.

"H- hi there." She kissed his chest, nuzzling closer and refusing to let go. “How did you sleep, my dearest?”

“So well. What about you?” He chuckled, and watched adoringly as the messy haired girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“I did, too. You know, in the morning light, laying next to you, this little relic of a house does feel quite nice." She giggled and gave an affirming hum, smiling warmly at Sidon. "Does getting breakfast sound good to you?" Link nodded tiredly, and yawned.

The sunlight stung the Hylian’s eyes as the two walked out into the brisk morning weather, the people of Hateno waking up along with them. The sounds of people talking began to fill the air as they walked along the increasingly busy street.

“Oh, I smell food, I want food.” Sidon chuckled at the girl, fixing the belt he had taken off the night prior.

“Me, too, Link. Let’s follow the scent, hm?” There was not only one building that held people for breakfast, but several, both of which were comfortably sitting next to patches of farmland on the incline of the town road itself. One appeared to be a tavern, a wooden sign depicting two crossed mugs filled with foamy ale was hanging off of the front of the building. The other had a small sign with a steaming cup drawn in chalk on the front, and seemed to be _filled_ with patrons. There was a strange, nutty and bitter smell coming from the cafe. 

“Well, I hope you don't mind being stuffed in a room with a lot of people.” She chuckled, shrugging defeatedly.

“I’d rather here than the bar, unless you want to get drunk at…” She shook her Shiekah slate, “7:40 in the morning.” He sternly shook his head and laughed. 

“No, I can’t say I do.” The two took the plunge among the crowding sea of people. There didn’t seem to be many chairs, as most people were simply standing and eating, and drinking the bitter smelling liquid that had perplexed Link the more she smelled it. 

The prince held her shoulder carefully with a hand, to make sure the both of them didn’t get separated as they made their way to the front counter. There was a small menu, scribbled in beautiful Hylian penmanship that depicted a few items neither of the two have ever heard of.

The front desk had a mustached Hylian attempting to take three orders at once, fumbling and writing things down furiously. 

“What can I get you two?” 

Link and Sidon looked to each other and back at the menu, confused on what anything was.

“Is the apple pie good?” Link asked a question of her own at the same time as the prince.

"What’s a latte?” The man looked left and right in shock and shrugged. 

“Whaddya mean? Have you never had apple pie? Get it, seriously. It’s uh...it's a really sweet bready, crusty, apply tart, most people love it. And lattes are just concentrated coffee and milk foam, that’s what most people come here for.” It was almost entirely impossible to hear him above the hectic murmurings of all of the patrons. 

“Uh, I guess I'll take a slice? As well as a Seagrass tea?” Link shrugged, and followed his lead.

“I’ll take the latte, and apple pie. Unless you recommend anything else.” The man shrugged with a pen in his hand, writing their orders down. 

“I like the pumpkin pie, personally. Really rich and creamy.” Her ear twitched curiously. 

“Okay, I’ll do that then!” He nodded, writing down what she wanted. 

“Nice, nice. I love turning people on to it, im a big fan.”

They awkwardly stood near the front desk, trying to stand still among the pushing customers that came to order behind them. The two received their orders, and Sidon led them outside.

“Oh, my goodness, that was certainly cramped.” Link walked over to a nearby fence near a large plot of farmland near the cafe, and sat comfortably on the railing. “Ah, the luxuries of being small, hm? What's it like being able to sit anywhere you want?” Link giggled as she set her coffee next to her.

“Do you wanna go somewhere else?” He shook his head, leaning against the fence. 

“Not at all, you look _too_ comfy for me to disturb you.” She smiled, listening to the birds singing their morning songs, and the goats in the nearby field bleating away. 

Link took a careful sip of her coffee, her eyes opening widely in surprise as the bitter, nutty flavor washed over her tongue.

“Sidon, try this.” She held out her paper cup, waiting for the prince.

“Hm?” He grabbed her cup, making eye contact and taking a careful sip. 

“Oh, my. I _really_ like that.” He sipped again, and she pouted.

“Don’t drink all of it! Go get your own!” He laughed, and took one last quick drink before he handed it back. 

“I’m not going back, I could hardly breathe out of my gills in there!” She frowned, and playfully nudged his side with a foot from where she was sitting.

“You’re so cute, prince.” He smiled and blushed at her compliment, watching as she took a tentative bite of her thinly paper wrapped pie.

“Why has being with you made me love food _so_ much more, Link?” She kicked her feet idly and chewed, smiling all the while. 

“Because I love food! If you’ve lived your life eating the same things for a hundred years, you’re absolutely right im making you try new things all the time!” He chuckled, taking a bite of his own pie and looking at it in amazement. 

“I...can’t argue with that reasoning, this is simply _amazing_.” She squinted her eyes closed happily and continued swaying her feet, her face shaded in the rising morning light by her sun hat. 

“Do you know when we plan to depart, my dearest?” She shook her head.

“I don’t, I haven’t even been thinking about it, have you?” He chuckled.

“I have not. However, there _is_ something I’ve failed to mention to you about our excursion.” She met her eyes with his golden irises.

“What’s that?” He cringed, and spoke quietly.

“Well, while I don’t expect myself to be too troubled traveling to where the flying beast resides, being somewhere as hot as Death Mountain would be...detrimental to myself, to say the least. Zora cannot survive in such climates.” She furrowed her brow.

"And I'd be fine?" Sidon shrugged.

“I have _no_ idea, but I think I know who does.” She took a sip from the hot paper cup she was holding onto, giving him a quizzical look.

“The scholar?” He nodded. 

“Mhm. Deene, or any of the scholars, for that matter, have to know everything there is to know about pre-calamity trade routes. Getting those back is considered a top priority. With trade route knowledge, there’s information on who ran what, and how they did it!” 

“Didn’t you study the same stuff?” His eyes grew wide, and he shook his head.

“No, goddess, no. They have an _entire_ libraries worth of knowledge in their heads. You flatter me, though, I wish I were that smart.” She frowned, perking up at him.

“I think you’re that smart.” He nudged her, lightheartedly chuckling. 

“See, there you go again with the flattery. What am I to do with you?” She giggled, hopping off the railing, wrapping an arm around the prince’s and pressing against him.

“Sweep me off my feet, please.” His face flushed, and he lifted her hat off her head to give her a kiss on her forehead, and placed it back, and she returned with her own to his crest.

“Come, we need to go talk with Deene." She nodded, following behind as he led her through the cobblestone road.

He turned off the busy Hateno street, leading her through deep, dewy grass that licked her bare ankles with cool water as she walked. The recreation center had a wooden post sitting outside its front door with large, beige parchment nailed to it listing the months events. Classes, clubs, meetings, all scheduled compactly on a calendar grid. He took the brass handle and pulled the hardwood door open, and they could immediately hear Deenes nasally, chipper voice speaking to a group.

"If you _ever_ find someone moving it for trade, and you see them drop it? Plug anything you use to breathe and get away. If you inhale the stuff, you'll get what's known as luminous lung, and...well, you don't get to live long enough after that to see if it makes your blood glow. _Ahem._ It does."

"Yeesh, what is he talking about?" Link whispered as the two walked into the well lit building. The room was very spacious, the ground was a smooth, grey stone with a comfortable looking rug set flatly upon it, and Deene was standing in front of three Hylian scholars of various ages sitting in chairs taking notes as he spoke.

"That doesn't even scratch the surface of dangerous alchemical ingredients, folks, bu-" Deene perked up at Sidon's bright red color among the dark wooden walls, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Well...this is a good time to take a break as any, I suppose! Royalty has entered our midst. Hello there, prince!" Sidon held out a hand, and tensed up.

"Oh, you don't need to stop because we're here! It's quite alright!" Deene erased what was written on a nearby chalkboard.

"Nah, breaks are short, lectures are long. I assume you need something, hm?" 

As the two approached the scholar, Link watched as he deftly began drawing the outlines of a lecture about alchemy trading.

"Yes, actually, some advice about travel, before we depart." Deene rocked on his feet, tapping and scraping a quickly fading stick of chalk upon the board.

“Prince, I won't be one to judge too harshly, but how prepared were you when you decided this excursion needed your own hand in it?” He asked this sassily, yet his friendly demeanor made it come off as if he was simply making a playful jab.

“Not very. Is it too obvious?” Deene chuckled, met his gaze and nodded, before turning back to continue scribbling. “Well, I consider myself lucky to have you for input.” Deene hummed in agreement. “We need to know how traveling to Death Mountain in its condition would be feasible for either of us.” Deene reared his head back, chuckling sharply, and his expression grew serious instantly after.

“Well. For one, I imagine it’s gotten so bad that even the Gorons don't stay too close to the mountain anymore. The race that has _literally_ evolved to live near volcanic rock? Probably moved further out west from the epicenter. Either that or underground. It’s just too dangerous there right now.” Sidon shook his head, not wanting to accept that as fact.

“The Gorons are afraid of an eruption? Don't those just give them more food?” Deene erased an error on the board, and shrugged dismissively.

“Sure, but what they’re dealing with _isn’t_ a normal eruption. It’s hardly detectable, but there's a rhythmic banging going on north of the domain. Vah Rudania is literally _stomping_ against the side of Death Mountain, trying to cause an explosive eruption to coat everything in lava, much like Vah Ruta was trying to drown the entire realm in water.” Link and Sidon opened their mouths in surprise.

“And how close do you think it is to doing this?” Deene shrugged, and gave a small grunt in response. 

“Ah! Well, closer than it was a hundred years ago. If you’re going to stop it, you need to do so from far away from the mouth of the volcano. You’d both fry in that weather.” Sidon looked down at Link, who shifted uncomfortably next to him.

“Link, do you think we could get close enough to use Vah Ruta to shoot it off the mountain’s edge?” Deene perked up at hearing this, and turned around.

“Hm! That might be your best plan.” The scholar said, and Link furrowed her brow and thought for a moment. 

“So, we shoot it off the mountain, and then we?...” She struggled to finish her thought, and Deene followed behind it with another.

“Prince, how much control do you have over Ruta?” 

“I control its motor functions completely. Water, lights, everything.” Deene nodded.

“Then you’ll have to hold it down to keep it from going back up the mountain while you tame it. Ruta’s foot, trunk, anything. Gotta keep the thing from moving.” Sidon shot his gaze to Link, and she reassured him. 

“I can do the rest from there, Sidon. It’s gotta be the same thing as the other two, right? I walk in and reprogram it.” He gave her a mournful look, and shied from making eye contact. 

“Ah, yes, I don’t like the idea of you getting hurt in that heat, but it makes sense.” Deene rocked back and forth on his feet, and spoke. 

“You’ll live if you’re at the bottom of the mountain, just drink a lot of water, you will sweat.” Link nodded, remembering how draining being in the Gerudo desert was to her body, her body that was now so used to ideal comfort and less-than-extreme weather.

“I can do that. I don't like being sweaty, but I can handle it!” She held out a determined fist, puffing out her chest and flashing a cheesy grin not unlike Prince Sidon’s when he was feeling riled up. Sidon noticed this, and blushed, admiring her as he absentmindedly spoke up to the scholar.

“Is there anything else we should know before we go, Deene?” Deene ran his hand across his bag’s strap and narrowed his eyes.

“Probably! Hah! If there is, I don’t know it! I’m going off of _just_ predictions here, so consider everything else the great unknown. Once you do tame it, hopefully the Gorons can salvage what’s left of their homes.” Link watched as Sidon stared at the ground sadly, people being torn from their homes seemed to bother him deeply.

“Well, I suppose we’ll make our way to Death Mountain then, yes?” Link closed one eye and thought.

“Unless you want to stay longer, I don’t see what’s keeping us.” Sidon chuckled through his gills.

“I do quite like it here, it’s very cozy, but... I can’t bear the thought of Death Mountain erupting, we have to do something quickly.” She enthusiastically nodded.

“Well, If you two are going, I think I can continue our lesson, lady and gentlemen!” He spoke to the scholars who were settled in their chairs, writing diligently the information Deene had scribbled on the chalkboard.

The two saw their way out of the rec centers dark wooden door, and could immediately hear and taste rushes of salty air coming from the sea crashing against the nearby cliffs at Hateno’s drop off. The wind gave Link a strangely familiar feeling, one that felt as though it was making her mind attempt to grasp at a memory it couldn’t quite place.

“Oh, that wind is a nice feeling, don’t you think?” Sidon put a hand on her shoulder as she listened to the white noise-like splashes from beyond the precipice.

“It is.” She inhaled a deep breath, and looked to her boyfriend’s glowing, golden eyes. “Let’s go look, Sidon.” He smirked, and nodded. 

The two walked, and the endless blue ocean convened with the cloudy sky above upon the horizon as it came in sight. Below them laid the deep blue and ever-shifting ocean, the white dots of seagulls fluttering around the beaches below.

“By Nayru.” Sidon gasped, and she hummed in agreement, feeling the strong sea breeze push against her, threatening to blow her hat off. As unsteady as it made her feel, it was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen, watching the waves lap upon the golden sand of the beach far below them, and unstoppably beat violently against the wet, black rock at the churning bottom of the cliff.

“Simply marvelous.” He paused. “This may sound foolish, but...” She could hear his voice tremble, and she shot her gaze up to his nearly tearful eyes. “This makes me feel much closer to my mother. My father always used to tell me how she would joke of building a second domain by the ocean. She loved it very much. I know she would have wanted me to see this.” He sniffled, and placed a gentle hand on the hilt of his rapier. “I hope she is resting comfortably. I hope that she somehow knows her sword has tasted the sea air once again.”

Link rested her head against his arm, and grabbed his hand. 

“I hope so too, Sidon. She’d be so proud of you right now. You've become more than just a prince or an ambassador. You're a hero, just like her.” Sidon wiped a tear from his eye, and admiringly squeezed her hand.

“Oh, by the goddess, thank you, Link. I look forward to the day where we have time to sit idly by the beach together and do nothing but admire this view.” Link giggled, and nuzzled her face on his arm.

“We have a lot of time, prince.” He stood rigid, and huffed a strong breath.

“Let’s not waste a second of it, then! Let’s go reclaim Hyrule!” She nodded determinedly, and the two began the short walk back to Vah Ruta. Link stopped to pick up a few food items from the bustling morning market, and held the bulging bag of rations as they walked through the small, dense forest that hid the hulking beast Vah Ruta.

"Home, sweet home, hm?" Sidon said, as he held a hand against the side of the beast, and Link felt it rumble in response.

The stairs plopped on the grassy ground with a _thunk,_ and the beast trumpeted a greeting to the two. Link winced at the noise, but smiled as they walked up the stone steps and into their abode.

"Good morning to you too, Ruta." She set the large paper bag of food down and placed her Shiekah slate upon the console, the familiar _click_ echoing off of the walls accompanied by the whirring of the device, and the map appeared, the beast waiting for further command.

"I suppose we can just see how far we can get in a day, yes?" She nodded, and the prince pressed the screen close to Death Mountain on the little map. Vah Ruta began chugging them toward their destination, and Link and Sidon came to the realization that they'd have nothing to do for a while until they arrived at the mountain.

"How long do you think it'll be?" Link asked, plopping down on the mattress she assumed was just their shared bed at that point. The prince shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure, maybe by tonight we'll be there?" She slumped back in the bed, and met her eyes to his.

"Got any ideas on what to do till then?" Sidon chuckled, and gave her a look of concern.

"Worry for your safety." She pouted, and furrowed sadly.

"I'll be okay, prince. I sweat a _lot._ My body temperature is so normal all the time!" She fluttered the front of her shirt that was pulled tightly to her small stomach and gave him a cheeky grin. His expression didn't change at her jest.

"I just wish I could do more, you know?" She huffed, wishing she could cheer him up.

"Getting Rudania off the mountains side and stomping on it to hold it down isn't doing enough?" Sidon shook his head, and pursed his lips together.

"I'm sorry, I just wish I could sweat like you and help! Zora can only handle so much heat, im afraid." He sat next to her relaxed body, and leaned against the wall with a huff. “How are you so calm about all of this, Link?” She shrugged, and moved her body closer to his.

“I’ve done this twice! And one wasn't even with you. I don't really feel like I should be afraid, especially not with Vah Ruta on our side.” He wrapped an arm around the girl, and frowned, thinking of her fight against Naboris.

"How _did_ you tame the beast in Gerudo, dearest?" She thought for a moment. 

"Chief Riju let me ride one of her horses. I was also given bomb bolts by one of the guards." Sidon's frown deepened.

"They just...gave you a horse and some bolts and said 'good luck!?’" She nodded knowingly and shrugged.

"They were running out of options. They didn't feel like they had anything to lose. I was worried, but the friends I had made there made me so much more okay with putting my life on the line like that." Sidons expression wavered.

"Yes, but I feel they had too little regard for you. I know they were frightened, I know that feeling all too well. I’m aware the Gerudo political system can be abrasive, but-"

"Not everyone is as caring and polite as you are, Sidon." He smiled and blushed at her cheeky comment.

"You really are a blessing wherever you go. Not everyone could see that, but I knew it right when I saw you." She flushed a deep red and pushed her face against his chest affectionately.

"Right when you saw me, hm? All passed out and bloodied in front of the domain?" Sidon ran a thumb on her shoulder.

"That was when I saw your courage, of which I admire so dearly, yes! You clutched that sword so tightly I could hardly pry it from your nearly unconscious hands to heave you over my shoulder to carry you to the infirmary. I've seen that bravery so many times since, it just beams from you so brightly, in every little thing you do." She watched him with starry eyes.

"You're too sweet to me, Sidon." He smiled, and she felt his hand grasp her by the hip.

"You deserve every bit of it and more, you know that, my dearest?" He confidently pulled her close and gave her forehead a kiss, and her heart fluttered intensely. 

She felt the embarrassingly familiar twitch in her pants in response to his tight, loving grip. Link felt so strangely entranced when he took control like that, when his warm hands gripped her assertively on any part of her body. 

She just wanted to give him all of her, to feel his hands caress more than just her sides.

To feel him rub her legs or thighs with that electric touch he elicited, to just feel his bare skin against hers sounded so dreamy. 

As her thoughts began to drift even further into her daydream, she couldn't help but wonder what he looked like beneath his belt, as she could tell he had some sort of skin pouch that discreetly lined against him directly under his navel, casting a very small sliver of a shadow over his hip bone. It's not like it's the first time she's ever looked at him down there, but she felt like seeing the bulge that was politely tucked in that pouch made her mind swim with curiosity. _Is it big? Does it look anything like mine? Guh, of course it probably doesn't, he's a Zora._

_Why am I thinking like this?_

_If he and I are dating, wouldn't that mean he thinks about me that way, too?_

_Does he ever think about using his on me?_

_Does his get...as excited around me as mine does around him?_

_Ugh. Weird. You're being weird, Link._

"Do you mind if we open the porthole, Link?" She hesitantly shook out of her daydream.

"Ah! Go ahead, It's too dark."

Sidon placed a hand on the wall behind him, and the visor on the front of the beast slid open, letting in the morning light and showing the vast landscape of Hyrule from where they were.

“Look at that." He gestured out of the beasts front aperture. "You know how much more populated these lands used to be, Link? Well. With people, anyway. The wildlife has never been more vibrant, I’m sure.” She nodded.

“Oh yeah, on the way to Gerudo town from Kakariko, there's a line of rusty swords in the ground near what’s left of Gatepost Town. That entire stretch of road used to be super busy and populated. Now it seems like a memorial. Little gravestones and everything.” Sidon sighed, and cringed at the thought.

“That’s so grim. Yet, people seem to be doing their best with what they have? It makes me hopeful.”

“Oh, you should see the stables!” Sidon cocked his head. 

“The stables?” She nodded, and drew in a sharp breath to speak.

“My map is littered with them, they’re little safehouses for people and their horses to rest at when they’re tired. I’ve stayed at a few, they’re really loud and smell bad, but it’s a very comforting atmosphere.” 

“Huh. That’s clever, it makes sense that something like that would appear after the calamity. When outposts and little towns disappeared, people had to do something quick, I imagine.” 

“Hey, Sidon.” He quirked his brow.

“What is it, sweetheart?” She blushed, and Sidon noticed how she shied from his gaze from referring to her so affectionately.

“The elder of the Shiekah told me about these shrines they used to have, like, underground? Do you know anything about that?” He shook his head.

“I’m afraid I don’t. Shiekah history records really only tell of their culture, important figures and emphasizes more traditional things like fighting and woodwork. What you’re referring to might be far more ancient than we Zora have recorded. Why do you bring it up?” Link gazed outside of the porthole on the front of the beast. 

“Because apparently they’re all over.” He scoffed, idly clicking his fingernails together. 

“What do you mean, all over? All over Hyrule?” 

“Yeah. They're dotted around my slate, but I can never see any of them. I didn't really even see a point to adding them to Muzus map because every time I look where the slate says a shrine _should_ be, there's nothing there. The Shiekah elder said they have really old scrolls that talk about them being all over too, but they never say what they’re for.” He rubbed his chin, staring at the high ceiling in thought, feeling the beast climb its way over a rocky hill.

“Well, if the Hylian castle unearthed the divine beasts, they _should_ have found those, don’t you think?” Link exhaled.

“Maybe they didn't dig deep enough or something.” 

Suddenly, Vah Ruta shook violently, accompanied by the loud _clack_ of Sidon and Link’s weapons that were set carefully against the wall falling over from the tremor. 

“What was that?” Sidon jogged over to the front porthole of the beast, and Link went to grab her crossbow that was laying flat on the ground. 

“Ruta hasn’t shaken like that before, I doubt that was its own fault, yes?” 

“I dunno, it didn’t feel normal.” She pulled back the string and loaded the weapon, prepared for whatever was outside of their safe haven. Link watched as Sidon’s eyes scanned the plain that the beast stood on, and walked beside him. 

“Nothing at all, what in the realm _was_ that...” Link looked at the prince, and saw a small, red dot, strobing on his body. It blinked over and over again on his stark white chest, and she traced along the long beam it was connected to, seeing a large, cone-like creature glowing with sinister, black and red clouds aiming right for him.

“ _Sidon_ , _move!”_ She shoved him aside as hard as she could, knocking him on his back and stumbling over herself. She heard a loud _zip_ followed by a _BANG,_ and smelled burnt hair as she quickly shot up to see a black, smoking mark on the backside of Vah Ruta. The creepy looking mechanical beast was darting around unpredictably on four metal, spider-like legs. 

It looked like something created by the Shiekah, bearing patterns similar to Ruta and Naboris lined along it’s dome-like body, with a protruding metal nub for a head that held an angry red eye set directly in the center. 

Sidon heaved himself up and grunted, looking around dazed. 

“Link, are you-” He watched in awe as the strange, metal creature crawled and strafed around the beast. Link felt the ground shake as Vah Ruta began moving quicker than she would expect from the titanic monolith. She took aim as carefully as she could, and released a zipping bolt at the twitchy abomination, and the wood smacked into splinters upon impact harmlessly against its black metal body. 

The two were shaken off their feet and onto the beasts floor as Vah Ruta lifted a leg and shoved a foot down thunderously into the ground in one pounding and decisive motion. 

Ruta huffed, and the sound of steam expelling into the air settled the chaos into near silence. The sound of the divine beast’s rumbling idle activity buzzed louder than what Link and Sidon had been used to, as if Ruta was panting in exhaustion. 

Link rolled over and saw the prince panting heavily near her, and she shot up to run over to him. 

“Prince! Are you okay?!” He let out a stressful breath out of his gills.

“Yes, I'm okay.” Link offered a hand to help him up, and he took it gladly. 

“Did you just use Vah Ruta to step on that thing?” He rubbed his back, wincing and inhaling a sharp breath through his teeth and nodded.

“That I did. Do you think that killed it? What on earth was that?” 

“I have no idea, do you think you should...move to see if its dead?” 

“Let’s go see, just stay behind me, okay?” Ruta moved its foot, and backed up slowly. The two peered out of the front of the beast to see if the danger was still there. 

“Oh, it’s dead, _whew!_ We crumpled it like a piece of paper!” Sidon breathed a sigh of relief, waving his hand in his own face to cool himself down from the stressful situation as he looked at the black spot that was left from the strange creature.

“We should go look at it, prince.” He nodded, and the beast Vah Ruta made a loud hissing sound as it lowered, and their stairway shot open onto the grassy field below. 

“Vah Ruta just stamped it straight into the ground, how oddly _satisfying_ that looks.” There was a perfect cylindrical indent in the dirt where the creature was lying dead, its spider-like arms were splaying, broken and sticking in all directions, uncoiling lifelessly from the hole. 

“It looks so... _creepy.”_ Sidon nodded, humming affirmingly and drew a stressed breath. 

“It was like a little divine beast. Except not nearly as charming.” He looked to the monolith behind them.   
“ _Are you okay, Ruta?”_ Vah Ruta trumpeted loudly, and Sidon smiled at it’s response. “I hope that thing was the only of its kind. Not everyone has the means to deal with something so… horrifying.” Sidon was surprised by Link hugging him around his side. 

“You almost got really hurt, prince. I’m so happy you’re okay.” He placed his arm around her, and pulled her into his touch lovingly.

“Ah, once again, I’m in your debt, my dearest. If we see any of those things again, we _must_ go out of our way to keep them from hurting anyone else. Could you imagine one those things let loose in Hateno?” 

There was something about the creature, something that nagged at the back of Link’s mind. If she peered too much into this gnawing sensation, she could smell smoke in the air, she could hear distant yelling and ringing in her ears. She saw the beasts darting from all directions around in her head. 

This feeling threatened to overwhelm her, and she tightened her grip on the prince. 

“I feel like I've seen one of these before, Sidon.” He cocked his head, and furrowed at her worried expression. 

“You have? My dearest, what’s wrong?” 

Her eyes widened at the sight of the dead robotic creature, and she stepped back. The thought continued groping around in her skull, and she fought it the best she could, moaning uncomfortably and holding her head in her hands as the prince grasped her shoulders and continued to question her, but it began to envelop her and flood her every passing thought.

“Link!”

“Huh?” 

She shot her eyes open, feeling Sidon’s voice bring her from the edge of a full blown panic, and she looked at the worried prince. 

“I...I remember these. Ganon used them. Sidon, I watched them rip a town apart.” Sidon gasped, and got to one knee to speak.

“Th-...okay, let’s go back into Ruta, okay? Let’s go talk in there.” She nodded, and the two walked back into the comfort of the beast. Ruta rose to attention, its hulking form standing proudly as the stairwell slinked back into its side, and the prince sat down on their little mattress on the side of the room, meeting Link at eye level. 

“Okay, Link, take deep breaths for me.” She nodded, and drew in as much air as her lungs could handle, and exhaled without thinking back in Sidon’s face. 

“Sorry.” He chuckled, shaking his head and smiling. 

“Nonsense, you’re fine. You still smell like pumpkin.” She tried to smile, but couldn't, the bitter memory threatening to hatefully poke her mind again.

“Those things have to be how Ganon destroyed the castle, that’s how so many people died, Prince.” Sidon furrowed, looking sympathetically at his terrified girlfriend, and he held out a hand to comfort her, but hesitated. 

“May I touch you, Link?” Her shy eyes met his gaze, and she nodded. “Come.” He patted the spot next to himself, gesturing for her to sit. She expected that he wanted her to sit next to him, but she surprised him by timidly climbing on his lap, and pulling herself to his chest. “Oh! That’s definitely okay, too.” She took another deep breath, and relaxed at his overwhelmingly warming touch. 

“Should I talk about it?” 

“Not if it hurts you to think about, Link.” He kissed the top of her head, and caressed her back as she pulled herself closer to him.

“I don’t know. It's so loud, Sidon. It just keeps getting louder and louder in my head.” He nodded, listening to her intently as she continued. “I remember the scratches on my body, I remember cursing, and yelling, and tasting blood, and the…” She shuddered in his arms. “I remember screaming.”

“Oh, dearest.” He held her as she shook again, and felt as she began to sob uncontrollably.

“There’s nothing I could do, prince. I couldn’t help anyone. They came out of the ground.” 

He rubbed a hand in gentle circles on her back and just listened as she went on. She wept, digging her nails into the prince as he held her. “My ears were ringing and it was so _hot_ and there was _nothing_ I could do _._ ”

“I have you, you’re right here, you’re okay.” She pressed her face to his chest and shook, her tears and drool soaking the front of her own shirt. He tugged her to him make her fit as snugly close to him as possible. 

“It’s like I can't avoid it. No matter how much I want to push _any_ memory away, it comes at me so quickly, and it's been happening _more_ lately. I don't want to remember that life, Sidon. I don’t want to remember watching people die. I saw buildings collapse over people that were still in them. I remember how dispensable I felt back then, I don’t want to remember.”

He clenched his eyes shut at her words, his breath catching itself in his lungs at how heavily this affected her. 

He remained silent for what felt like ten minutes, holding her as tightly as he deemed comforting for the girl.

“Is it okay for me to speak?” She nodded.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I just wanted to give you time to expel what you needed to, my dearest. I think the more these memories come by, the better you’ll be prepared to deal with them in the future.” She sniffled, and he could feel her shake again at the thought.

“I don’t want to, Sidon.” 

“Ah...I know." He looked at her mournfully. "I don’t want you to have to re-experience that pain, either. I know how badly this hurts you, but I don’t want to tell you that you can push these awful memories down deeper. That’s not healthy, Link.” She gripped him tightly for a moment in protest, but relaxed just as quickly.

“Just having you here helps. I can't imagine going through this all alone, without you.” She looked up and met his gaze, his eyes glistening sympathetically. 

“You won’t ever have to be alone. I simply won’t let you get through this by yourself, you mean so much to me, Link.” She could hear his voice strain oddly as he said this, his breathing was caught short by something. 

“W...what’s wrong, princ-” She noticed that in her tight embrace with Sidon, her legs were basically completely covering his gills. She moved them quickly, and pulled back to meet his gaze. 

“Oh, I’m sorry!” He shook his head, and took a deep breath through his now uncovered airways.

“Shh, it’s okay. I’m fine, I just want to make sure you are, Link.” She sniffled, and watched his beautiful golden irises study her expression. 

“I...” Normally she found herself too nervous to keep eye contact with him for too long, but his eyes pierced through her and she felt completely mesmerized by his caring look. 

“Just make sure that if these feelings flood you again that I can be here for you. Please don’t fight them. I know you can grit your teeth and take them, because you are so, so strong. You are a _goddess._ ” 

Link felt her heart swell, and in a beaming rush of adrenaline that shot her point blank at his words, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and tightly shut her eyes as she pressed her lips to his.

He made a noise of surprise, a small grunt of inquisitive shock, but she could feel his soft, surprisingly warm lips relax against her own, and he wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her closer as the two separated for a very short breath. It felt as though her lungs couldn’t fill themselves with air fast enough until their mouths collided again. 

She whimpered in shuddering breaths through her nose as he took the lead and leaned forward, cradling her and pushing his lips against her, the feeling of being so safe and loved was washing over her in electric waves.

They pulled apart and stared into each others eyes, completely entranced by what had happened, listening to each other breathe heavily.

“Link…” His cheeks were completely flushed greenish blue. “My love, your heart is beating so quickly.” She pressed a shuddering gentle hand on his chest. 

“So is yours, prince.” He placed a hand against her jawline, cupping her cheek, and she watched him starry eyed as his palm cradled her face like one would a priceless, fragile work of art.

“You know, some would call me selfish, but when I’m right next to you, it's like there is no calamity, like there is no waste, or hardship. It’s like it’s just you and I, and that’s such a wonderful feeling, Link. I haven’t felt anything like it in one hundred years.” The air knocked out of her lungs for the millionth time that day, and she pulled herself to him to once again experience how heavenly and right his lips felt against her own.

The prince sharply inhaled upon contact with her, and he graciously returned to embracing both her body, and her lips, making her feel like she was floating ten feet off the ground. 

She couldn't help but notice the taste he left behind as they pulled apart once again to meet each others gazes. It's not as though he had any specific flavor, he just simply tasted like _Sidon,_ that's the only way she could describe it, and it left her wanting so much more.

"I had been wanting to kiss you for so long, my love." She panted heavily, blushing all over and feeling his hot breath against her face. Every single part of her felt so sensitive and tingly, and her nerves were singing as silence fell between them.

"Aah, prince, I've wanted to kiss you, too. I…” She felt his forehead gently bump into her own, and rub against her softly. “I feel so close to you." He smiled.

“I do, too. I hope this feeling only gets stronger as time goes on; as I spend more of my time with you, Link. I’m so lucky to get to accompany you.” 

“I couldn’t have said no to you, prince. I consider myself just as lucky.”

Her mind sparked with realization, forgetting that they had a duty to fulfill, a divine beast to tame. The idea of fixing the probably ninety-ton beast seemed so much easier of an idea to her now, as if the fear she had to do such daring things when she woke up has melted away as time has gone on. 

“Are you alright, my love?” She nodded, still blushing hard and breathing heavily.

“I am, I just remembered that we have to take care of Rudania.” His brow shot up in recollection, and he cleared his throat to speak. 

“Are you certain? I’m sure we could wait another day if you want to take a rest.” She shook her head, and watched as he pressed a hand over on the wall of the beast, and Ruta glowed in response.

“Go ahead. Let’s keep going, prince.” He nodded, and gave a grateful smile to Ruta as it blared a chipper honk into the air at his request.


	18. What is a fever to such a creature?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This one is really short, I'm super sorry about that, I'll have the next one up in a few days ^^ ALSO IM AT 100 KUDOS, WHAT??? I LOVE YOU ALL THANK YOU SO MUCH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets really heavy, I hope that's okay! Stuff gets sad and all that <3

“This beast really has grown on me.” He pulled his hand away, and she watched as he looked admiringly at the walls of Vah Ruta. “I detested it at first, but I think it wanted my sister safe just as much as I did when she was imprisoned here. They deserve freedom just like we do, don’t you think?” She nodded, and gave a hum of affirmation, watching him with a moonstruck gaze as he lost himself in thought.

“I think some people won’t ever understand that, but I do agree with you, prince.” He nodded grimly. 

“Ah, well, that’s unfortunately how things are going to be, especially in such uncertain times. The Zora people had fought over such trivial things in the past century. They were frightened, and wanted something to blame, so they looked less at the thing making beasts sick, and more at the beast itself. I can’t imagine how this will affect trust in the Shiekah people for years to come.” She furrowed, thinking of the kindness she had been shown by all of the people in Kakariko.

“I hope not at all.” He frowned, and shrugged unconfidently.

“In future political affairs, I will make sure that nothing is done to harm them with all of the power that I have. I can just imagine what the elder council will have prepared to keep them barred from the domain.” She smiled sadly.

“I forget that you have a hand in that. You know, political stuff.” He chuckled sharply, holding her to him with his hand on her lower back.

“You forget I’m royalty, hm?” 

“Well, yeah! I know to everyone else you’re Prince Sidon. Seeing the way you talk to anyone but me is always really jarring.”

“Well, you just acting like yourself around me is all I could ever ask for, so I see no need to treat you any differently.” She pulled herself closer to him at this, and she could feel his breath wash over her as he exhaled in pleasure of how close their lips were once again.

“If I have the choice, why wouldn't I treat you like royalty, prince?” He huffed in awe.

“Ah, but you make me feel so much more special than royalty, Link.” He pressed his lips against her in another short, but slow kiss.

Time passed, idle conversation turning minutes into hours in the blink of an eye, and the sun shining from across the unpredictably rocky mountains jutting from Eldin Canyon gave everything an orange glow to it. Link bit into a piece of bread, holding it in her mouth as she scratched a bit of dirt from the crossbow in her lap.

“It’s gotten just a bit warm in here, don’t you think?” Link looked at Sidon, who chuckled slightly at her matted hair stuck sweatily to her face. She gave him a look of concern.

“Do you feel okay, Sidon?” He shrugged, setting a small knitting project aside. 

“I definitely don’t feel my best.” He leaned his head back against the wall of Ruta, huffing a few uncomfortable breaths of hot air. As his head touched the wall, the vein-like blue paths on the wall glowed, and a compartment opened on the other end of the beast. A protruding, tan faucet began spraying a cool mist directly in front of it. Sidon stood up, and approached it.

“Ruta, did you…” He put a hand in the mist, noting how cool and refreshing it was. “By Nayru, it’s cold!” He chuckled, and walked into the inviting water. Link watched him happily as he practically put his entire face up to the spigot, sitting down next to it as it shot his body with cold water. “This is so...SO much better, Link.” She giggled loudly. “Of course the Shiekah thought of this, they expected the champion of this beast to be a Zora!”

Link was still chuckling at her boyfriend. “What? Don’t laugh! I don’t have sweat glands like you do!” This only made her laugh harder, her face had gone completely red. 

“I...I know! You’re just shoving your face into it, you look so silly!” He blushed. 

“You should come over, it’s quite nice!” She shook her head, taking a large swig from a canteen she had picked up by the market in Hateno. 

“Nope! I’ll sweat my butt off over here, thank you! I don’t wanna get my clothes wet!” She stuck her tongue out at the prince, and he gave her a sad look. “Hey, don’t be sad! I’m just happy you can be comfortable here. Even if you get the rug all wet.” 

The two heard a thunderous roar, mechanical and shuddering throughout the hot air. Link looked out of the front porthole from where she was sitting, and could see the lizard-like beast Rudania hugged up against Death Mountain’s wall, slowly stamping against it.

“There’s our friend prince.” Link mumbled to herself, studying the beast from afar. Rudania was nearly black, bearing an onyx colored stone all around it, and had thick, glowing red lines covering it all over. It was definitely smaller than Ruta, but intimidating nonetheless. Sidon got up and looked out of the aperture at the beast.

“Hm.” He moved a finger to his dripping chin. “I expected it to be bigger, didn’t you?” Link looked at Sidon’s form as it shined in the afternoon light. The prince looked worriedly at Link as she clipped her crossbow to her back. 

“What’s up, prince?” He shook his head, waving a hand.

“Ah, nothing, I’m just still fairly worried for your safety. As much as I want to believe you’ll be fine, the idea of dropping you near the bottom of an active volcano still irks me a bit. I’ll get us close enough to knock it down, okay?” She raised her brow, surprised as she affixed her sword to her side. 

“We’re just gonna do this right now?” She felt the unsettling rumbling beneath her feet as Ruta lifted its leg over a particularly large rock.

“Only as long as you’re ready, my love. I can turn us around if you aren’t.” She shook her head, a resoluteness gleaming in her eyes that Sidon admired so deeply. 

“Let’s do this, Sidon.” The prince nodded, and Vah Ruta walked its hulking form to Rudania. Ruta huffed, settling into a somewhat level patch of rock as two horn-like protrusions emerged from the face of the elephant shaped beast. The horns aimed at Rudania with surgical precision, shooting out the little laser beam directly on the lizards stomach.

“Ready?” Sidon asked, and Link nodded determinedly. “I have a feeling the both of us will need to stand back, I plan on the beast falling in that little crevice right there.” He pointed to a dip in the ground that looked like it would hold Rudania’s squirming body nicely.

“So you’re going to shoot it, and then walk in and stomp on it?” 

“Not going to step on it too hard, but, yes.” He got on one knee to meet Link at eye level, and she met his gaze.

“I’m ready.” He knitted his brow sadly, and pulled her closely into a hug. “I’ll be okay, I promise.” Ruta chirruped loudly in the air, and the two horns at its front began to glow a bright red, and convened in a flash of red light that shot with intense force directly onto the beast Rudania. The lizard reared back and screamed, grabbing onto the rocky mountain’s side to gain leverage, but a full chunk of land slid beneath its feet, and it collapsed in a dizzying loud thud against the colossal crevice Sidon was hoping for. Ruta reacted by quickly moving its hulking form around the mountain, practically hopping over to subdue Rudania. All of their furniture shook as the beast slammed down a foot on the back of the lizard, and it roared and squealed disturbingly in defiance.

The rumbling of the hot, humid volcano was becoming too much for Sidon to bear, and he stood next to the welcoming mist that Ruta provided. 

“Your turn, my love. Please, for the love of Hylia, please be careful.”

"I will, prince." Ruta's side port shot open, and the familiar staircase slinked down close to the Lizard-like Rudania.

"Link, I…" the Hylian looked to Sidon, who was panting at how hot the air around them had quickly gotten. "I believe in you." She pulled herself to him in a quick, loving kiss, and pushed back, walking down the steps into the offensively hot air.

The landscape of Death Mountain was absolutely volatile, the atmosphere was humid and steaming, suffocating her with the smell of burnt ash and sulfur. Gerudo was hot, for sure, but this place felt as though it was sucking the life from her pale, thin body. She felt her shirt cling to her sweaty torso as she walked around the screaming head of Rudania. 

Its corrupted, glitchy wails offended her sensitive Hylian ears, but it was nothing compared to Naboris, as its thunderous screams shook the coarse grains of Gerudo sands with their volume.

She approached what should have been the open side of the beast, yet it was shut firmly, with a smoking, black ooze forming from the crack in between where the doors should part. The liquid writhed in the offensive heat, pulsating angrily in motions that Link could only describe as 'desperate'. Motions that conjure imagery akin to a frightened animal in a bear trap.

She drew her sword as she watched the mass escape from the shut door, plopping on the ground and beginning to congeal together into a steaming, smoking blob on the rocky ground. The thick mass began to lift itself up, emitting bubbling pops and small squeals as it assumed an uncanny humanoid form. It was tall, with appendages that elongated and shortened sporadically, looking as if a toymaker who'd never seen a human body was tasked with making a human figurine. She furrowed her brow, watching slack jawed in shock as it's makeshift veins pulsated and shook, and she winced as it screamed angrily. At its head was a red, glowing dot of light, and from its arm protruded a murky, oozing black sharpness that mimicked a scraggly looking sword, and Link prepared herself as it haphazardly swung it down near her body, letting out a wailing angry scream all the while. The black ooze sizzled against the metal of her sword as she held it out to block, and the creature reared back and hit the sword again at a different angle with surprising strength. 

The creature wailed in frustration, banging the object against the sturdy Blade of the Eight over and over again, trying to outmaneuver the skilled swordswoman by switching its areas of attack to no avail, yet the lack of being able to have a moment to breathe began to wear against her muscles. It would not relent, the red dot on its featureless face glowed intensely, and Link could hear its cries grow desperate. She used all of her strength to push back against the thing upon a thunderous  _ clang  _ to her sword and it stumbled back in response. She held a wide stance, and took the small time frame of opportunity to attack against its unarmed side. 

Her sword simply stuck in its torso, and as she struggled to pull back, it did not give, as if her weapon was stuck in cold molasses. 

She could swear it sounded like the abomination was either weeping or laughing as it pulled itself back, taking her means to defend herself along with it. It screamed maniacally, its limbs lolling around and undulating in size as it approached her. 

She sidestepped its attempted swing and attempted to grab the crossbow that lay affixed to her person, but its arms and legs simply rotated on the liquidy torso just as quickly as she could move to face her, and it gurgled as it pulled back to swing again.

Link looked to the red dot on its head with wide eyes, and time moved to a standstill as she reflected on all of the things she wished she could have done in her life. She still had to defeat Ganon, to liberate all of the people of Hyrule. 

She still had to make progress with her identity, as she had only just begun so recently, and  _ just _ began to feel the wonderful results of her treatment. 

She still wanted to see the world with Sidon, to cook food with him, to laugh with him and poke fun at how dorky he is. 

Oh, how much she loved the looks on his face as he experienced the world around him with fresh eyes; how every food, every new landscape took his breath away. She remembered how much he wanted to leave the domain, the lovingly envious expressions he gave her as she regaled him with tales of the Gerudo people, the look on his face as he marveled at the marshy flats of the Lanyru's wetlands, teeming with wildlife and greenery. She knew how much he  _ yearned  _ to be outside of where he had been imprisoned for so long, but it seemed the glowing prince was going to lose his companion due to her foolishness in combat.

The light that acted as the singular, piercing eye on the disgusting creature's head suddenly turned from red, to a bright silver color, and it went completely limp as it all floated lamely from the metal looking point in the air. The creature let out a weak, shuddering scream as it collapsed, and It quickly became apparent that the light in its forehead had not changed, but was snuffed out by a thin, silver metal rapier that was held by a shaking red Zora. 

" _ Sidon?"  _ Link asked worriedly, and the prince met her gaze for only a fraction of a second before his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he collapsed against the hot rock. 

"SIDON." She pulled him to his back by his shoulder, and could tell how shallow his breathing was, if he even was at all. " _ Sidon, no, no. Please."  _ She scanned his body quickly, and desperately grabbed his arms and attempted to pull him to the comfort of Vah Ruta, but his body was simply too heavy for the Hylian. " _ You can't, no, Sidon. I can't let you, please don't die. Why did you do that?!"  _ She heaved as hard as her muscles would allow, his overheating and quickly drying body scraped slightly against the rocky ground as she struggled to pull him. Her arms burned in protest of her pulling, and her eyes dared a teary glance at Sidon's lifeless expression.  _ "GET UP. PLEASE, PLEASE GET UP."  _ She screamed and wept, her tears blinding her eyes and soaking her sweaty cheeks as she pulled pointlessly. She fell to her knees, her limbs shaking weakly and her mind spinning completely out of control as she pressed her face against his dry, hot chest. " _ I NEED YOU."  _ She inhaled a sweat soaked, humid, tragic breath. " _ HYRULE NEEDS YOU."  _ She banged her hands against his chest, as if hitting him would shake the life back into his body. Link heaved another sob into his torso, shaking him angrily.

" _ YOU IDIOT. YOU'RE SUCH A SELFLESS IDIOT, SIDON. WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST..."  _

A prickling cold sensation stabbed at the back of Link's neck, something that she assumed was her mind playing tricks on her in the dizzying fugue state she was in from being so deliriously dehydrated. She looked up, and saw a gigantic stream of water coming out of the trunk of the hulking Vah Ruta, spraying the two in a powerful torrent. The water jet was so strong it nearly stung against her face, and completely soaked her clothes in an instant. She looked down at Sidons body with renewed optimism, holding onto his face and studying his unconscious expression.

" _ Sidon, you have to wake up, I can't do this without you. You're my companion, right? Please, I..."  _ she collapsed back against his chest, and sobbed once again. The lovely smoky and citrusy smell of the prince that once made her heart blossom and flourish, felt like it was banging her chest with a dull and painful realization that she'll never get that kind of comfort again.

"Link." She perked up immediately, and through her tear blinded eyes, she could see his weak, half lidded expression. "I'm so happy you're okay." Her breath hitched and shuddered out of her chest in incoherent mumblings as she smiled graciously, and in a thoughtless blur, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

" _ Sidon! Oh, Sidon I thought you were gone! You were hardly breathing!"  _ She shuddered in his arms that weakly wrapped around her back. 

"My love, I believe we should get me back into Ruta, quickly." She shot back up, and with his weary help, she pulled him up and walked him and herself back into the marginally cooler atmosphere of Vah Ruta. Link saw him to the little misty spigot on the wall of the beast, and he relaxed with his back against the wall.

"Oh my dearest--" He took a long, ragged breath. "--I'm so sorry I frightened you." She felt pins of sadness prick her body at his quiet, sickly sounding voice.

"Prince, prince, It's okay. You're okay. I thought I lost you, but you're here." He inhaled another messy breath, enjoying the cool water entering his gills. Link climbed next to him and rested her soaking head on his arm, unfazed by how cold the water felt against her skin. They sat in relative silence, save for the hissing faucet above them, and she listened to his breathing.

"Do you need anything, prince?" He inhaled to speak.

"I believe the only thing I have is Zora heat contact sickness. I might have a more severe case, but I'll heal. I just need to rest." She winced, wishing she had any idea how to treat such a malady. Zora biology continued to perplex her, and while she admittedly didn't know much about illnesses that could befall a Hylian like herself, it was all the more confusing when she thought of what even the most simple of sicknesses were to the Zora people. What is a fever to such a creature?

"Prince, you saved me. You risked your life to save me." He breathed in a painful breath through his sharp teeth, rubbing his hurting back that was burned against the hot ground of the mountain. 

"I heard it scream at you, I had to do everything I could-"

"Sidon, I couldn't see myself doing any of this without you by my side…" Her emotions overwhelmed her, and she wept into his arm. Her eyes were screwed shut, but she could feel as Sidon began to tremble through his speech.

"I know you told me to be less reckless, Link, yet I couldn't help it. I used to be to brazen out of disregard for my own well being, yet, this was simply out of my regard for yours.  _ No  _ prophecy or holy merit does any justice to how much of a shining beacon you truly are to me." Link couldn't distinguish what liquids were running down her face between the tears, water, and spit from all of her erratic and messy sobs. 

"I feel the same way, and if I couldn't have you near me, I wouldn't feel nearly as beautiful or perfect or hopeful, but most of all I would have been without you, and-...you're my best friend, Sidon." She sniffled loudly, accidentally inhaling some of the crisp water that floated around her head, and she coughed at the sensation. 

"You're my best friend, too, Link." The room fell to the white-noise esque silence due to the flowing faucet, and Sidon spoke.

"I believe that whatever that creature was, it's dead. With any luck, that was the blight of Rudania." Link looked up from the soaking ground they sat on, and quirked a wet eyebrow. 

"Do you think you'll be okay while I'm gone?" He nodded tiredly, looking as though he would fall asleep in the misty veil of the chilling water.

"I will. I'll be more than okay knowing you're safe, my love." Link frowned.

"You better let me take care of you when I get back, okay?" He weakly chuckled.

"You think I could protest against having you as my caretaker? Such soft and caring hands are befitting of the most skilled nurses." He gently kissed the back of her hand, and she furrowed sadly. 

“Is it okay for you to fall asleep right now? You look so exhausted.” Sidon slumped his head back against the wet rock wall; the tail of his head fin pressed uncomfortably against its roughness as he attempted to stare at her from the lazy angle. 

"Yes. If that thing reforms, come back as quickly as you can, okay? I've no objection to slamming the stairway and running off until we are better suited to handle that...thing." 

She placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"I'll be back really soon, and when I do, ill make sure we get going toward Hyrule field, okay?" He nodded weakly, and she kissed the top of his crest and watched the edges of his lips curl into a small smile.

She bounded down the steps, wanting nothing more than to reset Rudania and get this over with. She had no problems with meeting the spirit of the previous champion of the beast, but it seemed like the worst time to do so. Her clothes were dirty and soaked, her face was salty with sweat and grime, and if she clenched her jaw she could hear and feel the crunching of loose dirt in her mouth, that wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried to spit it all out. 

What was left of the disgusting creature lay in a smouldering pile of ash, and laying next to it was her sword. The handle was searing hot to the touch, and it's blade struggled to slide into its sheath from how dirty it had gotten when it was stuck in the foul blight. From where she stood, she could see the dark inside of Rudania, with the faint glow of its own console casting a dim blue light in the empty looking room. She stepped inside, feeling the hot air seem to grow even hotter as she passed the threshold. 

As suffocating as it was, it wasn't blighted in the slightest. Her slate buzzed, and she let it slap onto the terminal as it had the times before. The familiar screen shot through hundreds of little blueprints, notifications, walls of text in Shiekah that she felt no point in squinting at.

_ Hm. I wonder how often people speak Shiekah _ _. _

_ Impa has a bit of an accent, but not much. _

_ Paya has much more of one than she does, I wonder why that is? _

Her mind was aimlessly stagnating like a still pool in humid weather, screeching to a standstill after the days events.

"I am  _ HERE! _ Hello!" She winced at the booming voice behind her, thinking it was most likely the spirit of the Goron champion, and turned to confirm her suspicion. 

Gorons were certainly not what she expected to look like. A tubby, (or was he buff?) rock colored, thick-skinned stout creature with big black beady eyes and a white beard accentuating his round face stood before her. She gave him a soft smile, a courtesy that she felt was necessary; a welcoming greeting back to a world that has since lost structured civility that the Goron champion's soul had once known. She spoke in the most feminine tone she could.

"Hello there, I'm Link." 


	19. You needn't play coy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is completely from the perspective of Sidon, and I plan to do more of these in the future. 
> 
> This chapter has a smut scene, and has a few mentions to some more painful memories in Sidon's life.
> 
> I don't plan for smut to be the main focus in this fic by any means, but I do plan on adding more of it from time to time.

Floating between a feverish dreamstate and blurry reality, the prince saw reddish blue colors messily pulsate in his vision as he teetered between dreaming and waking.  The only thing keeping him from sleeping was the pounding headache that throbbed the front of his mind, an aching tether that held his consciousness by his temples. Zora heat contact sickness was something he'd only ever read of, and never had other than a very minor case he experienced as a child; and from that he could only remember a bedridden day of giggling and listening to his sister tell him stories of odd old Zora traditions to keep his spirits high. 

_By the goddess, she didn't have to try very hard, did she?_ _I was so easily entertained by her._

If he wasn't  _ completely _ enthralled by the subject she was speaking of, he was being soothed by his sisters angelic voice, a soft and silky one that varied little in pitch and volume, yet it danced between inflections and notes in such a beautiful way along with her gentle hand gestures. 

He couldn't forget that voice if he tried. His mind drifted, and he thought of Link's voice. To the Zora, her voice was perfect in its own right. 

While it was somewhat low and had a tendency to be raspy when she had been talking a lot, it was still absolutely beautiful in every single way to him. He remembered how hard she strained to speak when they had first met so she could sound her most feminine, and he noticed that it was the voice that hurt her throat the most. 

As they got used to each other, she found a middle ground to express herself, a voice that Link could use to speak at any volume and still feel comfortable around him. Something about breaking that awkward phase and getting used to each other's mannerisms made his heart flutter and flood his hands and feet with sparks of joy. Hearing her somewhat low registered, messy little snort laughs when he flattered her and how her cheeks would light up like fresh beets brought him more joy than the girl could ever know. 

_ By Hylia, how was I the first to notice her perfection? I couldn’t have been. Did no one else see how positively kind and loving she is? Not as if she  _ **_needed_ ** _ it to happen, but the fact that no man or woman had come by and attempted to sweep her off her feet is so beyond my own comprehension.  _

Thinking of his favorite voices and the people they belong to brought his pounding head further out into the abyssal blue and red swirling dream-state he wished for so badly. 

He felt himself being pulled; not just his body, but his entire being, stretched across an endless horizon of time so thinly that his memories lay less than paper thin across the plane. 

He awoke with a start, panting from his mouth and thrashing around confusedly as his blankets stuck to his gills and hindered his breathing.  _ My favorite blanket?  _ He ran his fingers across the stitching. _ I thought I left this at the domai-... _ He looked around to notice he was in his old bed, large and squishy as it had ever been.

"Wha-- dearest? Link?" He looked to his side, half-expecting her to be there next to him for some reason. 

_ If she isn't here, maybe she's in the royal hobby room. This is all too strange. _

He hopped out of bed and turned the familiar knob of his bedroom door, and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the bright luminous stone that was set inside its sconce next to the doorway. The light was odd, glowing a more pale and sickly color than he was used to, a color of dirty seafoam. 

His eyes quickly darted around the room, yet he could see no Link in sight. 

“Hello, brother.” He yelped, his brain shocking him to attention at the figure sitting in his favorite rocking chair next to his closet. 

She was shrouded in darkness, and the surrounding sickly light struggled to make sense of how to illuminate her. No matter how much he rubbed his eyes he could not focus on the small red figure of his sister.

“Mipha? Sister, is it you, truly?” He approached her softly smiling form and got on one knee to meet her at eye level. “Am I-- am  _ I dead?” _

As polite and loving as her gaze was, she didn’t nod or speak for several seconds, leaving his mind to race wildly.

_ Was I wrong about heat contact sickness? I know the builders used to get it from working too hard on the domain’s extensions and they still live to this day, did I just overheat too much?  _ His sister's voice broke the cluttered thought process of the confused prince. __

“You know, I never had a room like this. The last hobby room I was holed up in all of the time was so much more cramped, but I liked it that way. You remember, don't you?” He shook his head in defiance of accepting her voice; it warbled unsteadily like an old record. “You remember the rickety old chair we used to sit in together. This chair is far too spacious for my body, little brother!” She giggled, her chuckles cutting through the air daintily like the clacking of porcelain.

“Mm- Mipha, you can understand me, yes?” She closed her eyes and nodded slowly.

“That I can, Sidon. You asked me if you are dead. Today is an important day, you know. The masons are putting up the marble statue in my honor.” He inhaled a confused breath through his gills, and his heart flipped. 

“Th-- the marble statue.” His throat caught a lump, seeing his own sister talking about the statue chiseled carefully in her image quickened his heartbeat “Your memorial? The masons did that nearly eighty years ago, before the great corridor was even built.” Through her fuzzy visage, he could see her brow raise in the affirmative.

“Ah! Well--” She stood, her blurry form flickering over to the door and pulling the handle. “--that hardly explains this, Sidon.” 

He stepped over to her and looked out of the doorway. The dreary, gray skies constantly pouring rain from Vah Ruta gave everything that depressing, nearly purgatorial atmosphere; the one Sidon thought he’d never see again in his life. 

He could see the cloth covered statue, waiting to be unveiled in the middle of the domain.

A medium sized, young red Zora boy adorned with epaulets and a small feather on his crest stood next to King Dorephan, a stern face among a crowd of citizens. As if the mason that stood with his hand on the wet cloth was tearing off a painful bandage from the entirety of the domain, he unveiled the statue’s picture-esque glory, and an array of mournful gasps were heard among the crowd. Sidon watched as his younger self’s expression was tested thoroughly. 

_ Ah _ .  _ There it is. _

That was it. That moment, the twitch of the brow, the small snarl, he was wrestling with his emotions at the sight of his sister’s image brought back with expert craftsmanship. In that moment in his adolescence, as he looked upon her marble form standing above all in the domain, he was reminded of how he went from begging to be by her side every waking moment as a child one day, to grimly being told he'd never see her again the next.

Dorephan’s face studied the work blankly, his expression unchanged save for his eyes that grew wider upon viewing the statue.

Sidon tried his best to keep his composure, inhaling a shaky breath through his gills.

“Why am I here, sister? Who brings me to such a horrible place in my memory?” She shook her head, and rested a loving hand on his arm.

“As much as it pains me to say this, you brought yourself here, brother. You remember this day so much more vividly than most in the past hundred years, perhaps it was an accident.” Sidon inhaled and exhaled a stressful sigh.

"If it  _ is  _ my choice, I insist that the two of us go somewhere nicer." 

His sisters brow shot up in excitement, and her newfound joy could be heard in her wide smile.

"That is not my under my own control, Sidon. Come, let's see you take us somewhere pleasant!" He watched as the girl faded and flickered out of sight from in front of him, and felt his stomach drop as he fell into an inky black abyss. There was a time frame in that void, something he couldn't quite quantify. It could have been minutes, hours, seconds, but he felt himself pushed softly and pulled in the dizzying mess of it all, his body turning and folding like taffy.

The prince’s eyes suddenly shot open, he found himself cramped and hunched over, fighting a cobweb that stuck to his crest in the old hobby room that used to double as general storage. This room used to feel so much larger to the prince. His surroundings were more blurry than the last memory, with colors sort of  _ melting  _ together, overlapping and undulating on the walls.

“What is this one for?” A young Sidon spoke, and his elder sister smirked, holding a fine, silky looking triangular cloth, with lovingly done swirls and dots of jewelry embroidered into it. She looked at the little prince in her lap.

“I swear, Sidon you’ve asked me about this project a dozen times. It’s for Princess Zelda, in honor of the excavation of the Divine Beasts.”

“What does excavation mean?” The young Sidon’s voice cracked, and the grown prince chuckled at his past self, looking to his right to see the fuzzy visage of his sister. 

“It means they brought them out of the ground, little minnow.”

Their surroundings twitched, as his mind struggled to put together the fond memory they stood in.

“You always asked so many  _ questions  _ as a child _ ,  _ I swear, Sidon.” She rubbed her temple, and Sidon kept finding himself having to squint to even see the messy representations of what things were supposed to be. The little figure of the young prince kicked his feet happily on Mipha’s lap, but he could just  _ barely  _ tell that was what was happening.

“Am I going blind, sister?”

“See, look at you, inquisitive as ever, haven’t changed a bit.” She giggled as he rubbed his eyes, and white dots danced behind his vision. 

His eyes fluttered open, the room around him was small and suffocating. Luminous stones were set in all corners; and the only thing other than those was a medical grade bed with a small, pale Hylian laying making eye contact with a copy of him crouched next to her from the safety of being under blankets.

"Can I please have my stuff back?" She asked the dreamy copy of the prince, and he furrowed sadly. 

“ Your clothes are being washed, and I’m afraid the tightness of your garments could threaten to break your stitches. If I could, I’d get them for you right away!”

Suddenly he heard the familiar, yet wobbly sound of his sister laughing as she approached from behind. 

"Oh, now this is just as immaculately remembered, brother! What lovely attention to detail, it's no wonder your tapestry work is so lifelike!" She paused, looking at Sidons happy expression as he watched his memory play out. 

"This was one of the most important days of my life, Mipha."

“Mmh, it appears that way. I've never seen you so quick to wait on someone hand and foot!”

He chuckled, his eyes staring at the small Hylian with a dreamy, half smirk.

“Yes, well, I knew she was special.” 

He blinked, and as he opened his eyes, he found himself on the dock of the East Reservoir next to his sister, watching Link and the memory of himself carried by the crowd of Zora civilians to the middle of the domain in celebration of liberating Vah Ruta.

"Ah, brother. The domain looks so much more beautiful when the sun can shine against its marble and metal." He nodded, enjoying the sight of Link giggling nervously and blushing from being carried by so many ecstatic strangers.

"I wish you could have been there with me." Mipha leaned forward quizzically, meeting his gaze.

"Hm? What do you mean, dear brother?" Sidon smiled and blinked, opening his eyes to the memory of seeing Lanyru wetlands for the first time. His sister giggled happily, a nostalgic swell of joy caused her to bounce a little on her heels.

"See? The battalion is here!” He pointed at the dream representation of the Zora army that accompanied them to the Lanyru Wetlands. “This was quite the day in history for our people. It would have been all the more pleasant to have you along."

She held a hand to her collarbone, idly watching the hypnotic ripples of water in his memory.

"Oh, Sidon. as ruinous as this land has become, it seems you looked upon it with such grandeur. I would have loved to have accompanied you, but I'm just-" She watched as Sidon's memory version of himself slumped to a knee and hugged Link's small body close to him. "Ah, hah, that Hylian has a tendency to catch our fancies, doesn't she, brother?" 

She watched as Sidon eyed the Hylian lovingly. "This memory is so rich, so bright. 

It seems as if the sun itself shone more vibrantly and the leaves gained more color as you embraced her. Take me somewhere else nice, brother. You’ve no idea how much I've missed spending time by your side." She shook him by his arm, as much as her strength would allow her. Sidon nodded, his heart flipping over happily as he perused through his memory with the ghostly visage of his sister.

The world fell away as he blinked. Shaking and flickering into sight was the breathtaking view of the ocean from the vantage point of Hateno proper. The white noise of the waves and the tinny, loud seagulls played like an old record in his ears. Mipha took in a deep breath through her gills

“Ahh! Hateno has changed, but the sea certainly hasn't, hm? Mother loved it here.” The two watched as Link softly rested her head on the princes arm, and their surroundings shook and harmonized in response with strange, alien sounding swells and beautiful colors.

“She makes you so happy, Sidon.” He smiled fondly.

“Yes, she does.” She shot up her brow, and nudged him, smiling brightly.

“You love her, little brother, I know you do.” 

The princes cheeks flushed bluish green, and he cleared his throat. 

"She means a great deal to me, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to tell her that." 

“I know what you’re thinking, Sidon, you needn’t play coy.” She rested a hand on his cufflink. “You’ve such a talent for acting fearless and confident, such is the role of the ambassador, yet I know how often those words wish to roll themselves off your tongue.” He pushed his lips together nervously, darting his gaze to the grassy ground. “You've never felt this way toward anyone, I am aware. You don't know if what you're feeling is love. It is, put simply.” The waves continued to crash against Hateno’s edge violently as she said this.

“We both fell fairly hard for her, didn’t we?” She giggled.

“Well, I never was one for women, but yes, when she presented differently.” He furrowed, and spoke to ask something.

“What did you see in her back then? What was it that drew you to her? She was so...quiet.” She watched him blankly; a stare that looked as if she was lost in thought.

“I couldn’t tell you that for certain, Sidon. I’m not sure, myself. Maybe it was how much she listened, maybe it was how mysterious she seemed to me. Maybe she was the only person my age who I felt a connection with. I was quiet, just as she was. Perhaps that silence just made me comfortable, and I wanted more of it." She took a pause, and inhaled deeply, rocking casually on her heels. "Maybe you and I just have a  _ thing  _ for Hylians, hm?” He chuckled through his gills.

“I imagine back then she wasn’t very happy. I’m sure your presence helped her a great deal, sister. Thank you.”

“There is no need to thank me, here she is right now, prince. Prince.” He furrowed, cocking his head at her calling him that.

“You've never once called me prince. What do you mean, here she is?” 

“Prince!” His eyes shot open, and a surge of pain hammered on the front of his skull like a gong.

“Ah, what do you- why would you call me that?” The faint outline of Link came into view, and he felt a pillow beneath his head. She stared at him quizzically.

“Call you prince? I always call you that, is that bad?” His eyes darted around the room. He was laying on their mattress in the comfort of Vah Ruta, lit by a few luminous stones in the dark of night. From outside of the front porthole, he could hear crickets chirping, and could see the swaying of leaves illuminated by the light of the full moon.

“No, ah, I was dreaming. How did I get here?” Link’s ears grew red, and he watched her with starry eyes.

“You don't remember me walking you over to bed, do you?” He shook his aching head, slowly as to not exacerbate the pain. “You just looked so uncomfortable up against the wall like that, and when we got back from Eldin Canyon, you started shivering, so I woke you up and told you to come over here. You just sorta plopped into bed and passed out.” She rubbed his arm gently, and he flushed a bright cyan at how adoringly she looked down at him.

_ Ah, what a wonderful thing to wake up to. Look at that smile. Brighter and more comforting than the morning sun, I swear it upon my own lineage.  _

“You are so gorgeous, Link.” Her mouth pulled into a surprised smile, and she shied behind her shoulder length hair to avoid his gaze.

“Hey, at least tell me how you’re feeling before you hit on me.” He chuckled sleepily.

“I’m better. Not perfect, but better. My head is killing me, I’m afraid.” Her smile fell, and she pressed her hand against his crest, which made him wince initially before relaxing.

“I made dinner, it’s outside, but I can bring a bowl in if you want.” His brow shot up in surprise.

“Oh, Link, you didn’t have to do that.” She nodded sternly, and carefully pressed her lips against his crest. Sidon felt so unworthy of such tender care, and his heart fluttered at her kiss.

“Yes I did, silly. I know you’re hungry, you didn't eat anything for lunch.”

His stomach sucker-punched him with a hollow pang of hunger at the thought.

_ Perhaps I am hungry _ .

“Okay, yes, I yield. Let’s go.” She smiled ear to ear, getting up from the bedside and offering a hand. 

“C’mon, I made a lot.” Sidon wrapped his blanket around his shoulders and took her palm, though as much as he weighed and as small as Link was, it was more of a formality.

He stood, the earth shifting unsteadily below his feet, and he struggled to find his balance.

“Ah, and it appears I’m dizzy, as well.” He shuddered, a chill falling over him that drafted in from outside, making his skin tingle uncomfortably.

“It’s okay, prince, I won’t let you fall over.” She held his arm as the two walked over to the stairs, and Sidon carefully stepped down the stony steps. The air was chilly, but just in front of him was a crackling, popping fire that held a wok in its center, filled to the brim with thick cut vegetables and meats in a brown broth, and he felt the lovely smelling warmth blow from the mixture. 

The fire roared in a neatly crafted ring of stone shooting flaming embers among the breeze, and they were surrounded by high grass and bushy trees that cast even darker shadows in the pale moonlight. 

“How did you do all of this?” She led him to sit on a sturdy felled tree, and he plopped down, the blanket covering his torso and legs.

“The campfire was already built, I just collected the wood! See?” She pointed over to a large cylindrical big topped tent by a dirt road, glowing an orange hue from the large torches that were near its entryways. “That’s one of the stables I was telling you about, and this campfire is kind of a public place. I got some extra ingredients there and asked what I should feed a sick Zora.” He gave her a surprised smile, and receded into his blanket as a draft of wind rustled the grass and sent a chill up his spine. 

“And they could give you no answer, I assume?” She giggled, ladling some of the soup into a large bowl.

“What to feed a sick Hylian is the next best thing, right?” She handed him the bowl with a large spoon. He looked at her nervously as he held a spoonful up to his mouth, and bit into it. 

“Oh, Link--" he chewed on the array of potatoes, carrots, onions, and tender meat in his mouth. "--this tastes like a hug feels.” 

She snort-laughed, sitting down next to him and scooting closely with a bowl of her own.

“You like it?” He took another large bite, and nodded. 

“I do! I’ve never felt like a meal has given me the feeling of being  _ loved _ before, but I have to say that I return the sentiment.” She smiled ear to ear, and took a careful sip from the hot soup.

Sidon looked ahead, hearing the chittering insects among the trees and noticing a second red beam trained on Hyrule castle coming from the north.

“Link!” She startled, looking up at the amazed Zora. “You did it! You tamed Rudania!” She furrowed, and set her spoon back in her wooden bowl.

“No,  _ we  _ tamed Rudania, prince. I couldn’t have done it without my companion.” She nuzzled into him as he exhaled happily. As embarrassing as it was to say, he’d forgotten their mission for that small span of time. 

His fever left him oddly short sighted, his thoughts more fuzzy, like his brain was exhausted from being so overheated. If Link were to tell him he was still dreaming, he’d probably believe her. 

“What did the Goron champion have to say? Do you know what happened to their people?” He took another bite of his soup, and watched her give an unreadable smile.

“His name was Daruk, and he said they have a cavern that they can live inside in case Death Mountain erupts a lot.” Sidon nodded, enjoying the heat that grew between the two as they sat so close together. “It stopped erupting, so he said they would probably come out when they’re ready.”

“My goodness, not unlike the domain, they were trapped, too.” Sidon furrowed sadly.

“But, prince!” She patted his knee excitedly. “You and I freed them! You gave them a chance to see outside  _ their  _ domain.” Sidon felt his heart swell. She was right, with her help, the two of them had given another race of people the chance to live freely. He felt his eyes well with tears at the overwhelming realization.

"Ah, that means so much to me, Link. You always know exactly what to say." He studied the Hylian's loving gaze. "You and I will see this realm completely unbound and unified, I know we will."

"And then what will we do?" Sidon felt his face grow hot, not expecting such a blunt question.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I've got more than enough to do at the domain, yet playing similar supporting roles as the ambassador still gives me the opportunity to travel freely, as long as I'm representing the Zora people." 

He paused, and waited for her reply.

_ What would we do? Help economic reform? The idea of helping rebuild Hyrule castle is a nice one, yet, there’s so many other places that will need help as well. _

The Hylian's face was colorfully flushed, and her sleepy eyes glistened in the moonlight.

"I don't care what we do, prince, as long as I get to be with you." He huffed, his lungs not able to hold so well in the face of such strong words.

"I-... I couldn't imagine a world where I'm not by your side." Link looked up wondrously at the prince, and he noticed the sky in her eyes. "Ah, Link--" His voice grew quieter as he looked at her innocent expression. "--I can see the stars reflecting off of your eyes. You're so beautiful." He watched as her face lit up in thankful disbelief.

"I--" she paused, shying from his intimate gaze. "--I don't feel like I am, but the way you look at me makes me feel like I'm wrong."

"Oh, my dear..." he put a gentle finger under her chin, and carefully pulled her face up to meet his eyes once more. She looked at him with an awestruck expression, and he could feel her hot breath as it huffed from her mouth in shaky breaths. "You look so pretty in any light I see you in. Any adorable outfit you wear, any amount of stars that find themselves lucky enough to sparkle in your eyes, you're always going to get that look from me." He could feel her whole body shiver at his touch.

"P-- prince." The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile as he basked in her dreamy voice.

"Yes, Link?" 

"I...I've never felt this way before." His nostrils flared, and he exhaled at the sight of his beloved.

"I haven't either." Sidon reached his head down to her face, and her lips graciously locked with his. He could hear her moan softly as they pulled and pressed their lips together, and Sidon shuddered a relieved sigh at the wonderful feeling of kissing Link again, like cool water rushing through dry and hot gills. The way her soft, warm mouth hugged onto his so tightly, and lovingly paid attention to every little movement against his lips sent shivers of euphoria down his spine.

_ You love her, little brother, I know you do. _

_ Yes, yes I do. I love her so dearly, I'd do anything for her.  _

She moaned louder, dropping her bowl to her side and pushing more tightly against his lips, and he began to see white dots poke behind his vision. The dizzying feeling tested his balance even in the comfortable sitting position he was in. He confusedly parted from her to catch his late breath, and saw her eyes shoot open in an expression he'd never seen her make.

An expression he could only describe as emotional craving, or perhaps physical. Her face was flushed redder than a beet, and she tried her best to conceal her rapid panting.

"My apologies, that was just, very  _ intense.”  _ She looked at him in worry, her previous hungry expression wiping from her face in a second. 

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry!” He felt her hand rest on his arm, and he chuckled weakly. 

“I suppose I don’t know my limitations, I somehow forget I'm still ill. Also, no, Link, don’t be sorry, I wanted that too.” He wrapped his arm around her tiredly. Moving too quickly or doing anything too strenuously made the ground beneath him even more unsteady than it already was in his feverish state. The sensation was otherworldly, and he felt as though Link’s touch was like a crucially lovely tether to reality. 

“That feeling is just so powerful, I want more of it, but I’m afraid I’ll overheat if we continue.” He watched her flushed cheeks deepen an even further red in the flickering shadows of the fire, and she hid her face behind her hair _. _

“Okay. Thank you for stopping me, prince.” He picked up his bowl from his side, and took a large, unapologetic bite by tipping the bowl towards his mouth.

“Anytime.” She chuckled loudly, and he smiled at her amusement of his theatrics. “What? Do I look foolish when I do that?” 

“I’m just used to you eating with manners! There’s a spoon in your bowl, you know!” He smiled ear to ear, taking another large gulp from the tail end of his bowl, and uncharacteristically spoke with a mouthful of food.

“I know! However, my other arm is preoccupied!” She grabbed her bowl and mimicked him, spilling a sizable amount on her chest. She huffed a stressful sigh, looking down at the stain, yet couldn’t help but keep her widely smiling expression.

“ _ Ugh.  _ It’s easier for you, your mouth is big.” 

“ _ Your _ mouth is big.” She giggled and snorted loudly, rocking back in hysterics.

“No it’s not! If it was, I wouldn't have spilled all my food on myself!” He fought back a wild smile, and tried to sober a bit at her exasperation.

“I did bring a little fold-out washing board from the domain, I’m sure your clothes are sweaty after the days events.” She frowned at her messy clothes, and took another bite of food. 

“Ah, yeah. I’ll take them down to the river tomorrow.” 

The fire began to die down, making the air around them grow chilly once more, and Sidon shivered in his blanket.

“Would it trouble you if I took my leave for bed?” She smiled and cocked her head.

“Of course it wouldn’t, you look really cold. Go, I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?” He nodded, giving her a kiss on the head, and he pulled himself from his seat.

He plopped down in the mattress, his blanket still wrapped around him as he waited for his beloved to join him in bed. He still felt  _ ridiculously  _ tired, even if he’d been sleeping for the latter half of the day. His limbs felt as though they were sinking into the soft bed, and his chills ran up in an icy wave up his legs. 

"Ruta, there's no way you could make it warmer, could you?" He pressed his hand against the wall, to no avail. Ruta simply made a sad trumpeting chirp that lowered in pitch near the end. "Thank you anyway, friend. You've been an invaluable part of our team, we couldn't do all of this nearly as efficiently without you." Ruta's walls glowed dimly at his calm praise. He's not sure if it understood him completely, maybe it could just detect the calmness in his voice, but he'd gladly inform it anytime of it's vast importance to their mission.

"Are you talking to Vah Ruta?" Link asked, startling the prince.

"Ah, yes, I was thanking it for everything it's done for us." She gave him an adoring gaze as she pulled a clean shirt and leggings from her bag.

"That's so cute, prince!" She looked up at the interior of the kind beast. "Thank you, Vah Ruta!" She spoke as loudly as her voice was comfortable, waving an arm at the wall as if Ruta could see her, and the beast’s blue vein-like circuitry flickered again in response to being talked to. The girl walked behind the console out of sight from Sidon, and he curiously craned his neck to see her. She met his gaze for only a second, before shying even closer to the console.

"Don't look, I'm changing!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sidon blushed. Of course she was, what else would she be doing? He kicked himself for absentmindedly trying to look at her naked body.

She walked out, her loosely fitting white shirt that usually went with her red jacket laid comfortably against her body along with her tight black leggings. He didn't know if she knew this, but her nipples poked out intensely through her shirt, and the sight of them took the breath from his lungs. _Oh, of course she's this cute without a bra, they're so small and perfect._ _Do I tell her that I can very clearly see them? She's looking right at me. Goddess above, her legs look so nice._

"Youuu look  _ good _ ." He blurted nervously, and she furrowed at his weird, off-color compliment. Link looked down at her very visible breast buds that poked through her shirt.

"Ah!" She held an arm over her front, blushing wildly. "I'm sorry! I'm gonna go put my bra back on." 

"Wait, Link. Are you sure?" She disappeared behind the console again, and he frowned. "Please, forgive me if I sound inept, as I don’t know what a bra feels like, but i'm  _ sure  _ it gets tight, and it just seems like it wouldn’t make proper attire for sleep." There was a moment of silence.

"Are you sure?" He sat up in bed, and began to take his epaulettes off, along with his belt that hurt to sleep in.

"I am! Remember how I wore my garments to bed as well?" He tossed them past the foot of the bed and they landed with a  _ clang. _ "No need for either of us to be uncomfortable, unless you feel better with that on, in which case, go right ahead!" They certainly did feel better off of his body. Sometimes he envied Hylian clothing, liking the idea of having a big shirt or a coat, yet it had never been necessary for the prince, or the Zora people as a whole, as their biology hides more private parts in skin pouches. She walked out slowly, her arm still covering her front, and a rosy blush covering her cheeks. He kept his eyes on hers, and gestured for her to join him. “Come here, my dearest.”

She shyly crawled into the comfort of the bed next to the prince, and he pulled her gently to his chest. The Hylian’s slender, pale body wrapped around him, and he could swear he’d never felt more comfortable in his life. 

Link’s legs were lovingly hugged around one of his, and one of her arms was splayed across his chest.  _ Ah, she's so warm. How does such a small girl create such heat? _

"Did you, um…" Sidon perked up at her quiet, nearly androgynous voice, and he gave her little necklace a good flick to light up the space between them.

"Hm? What's on your mind, Link?"

"Was the reason you stuttered looking at my chest because you thought it was bigger than...it...is?" The prince furrowed, shaking his head as he felt his feverish face light up to an even warmer temperature.

"Of course not. I stuttered because..." 

_ Ah, dearest, I stuttered because your actual breasts look absolutely adorable and I couldn't stop thinking of how soft they must be to the touch. _

_ " _ Must be my fever, you know? I just feel like an incoherent mess, I keep losing my line of thinking." Her drooping frown grew deeper, and she spoke quietly.

"You really aren't a good liar, prince." His face flushed, and tried to circle back, her sad expression felt like a screaming hot poker on his heart.

"Link, I stuttered because they're... I find them quite beautiful, actually." She hid her face in her hands, and Sidon didn't know if he said the right thing or not. "Link? Was that okay to say?"

"Aah, yeah. Yes. Thank you." He smiled, and sighed in relief, looking at the chipped nail polish on her dainty fingers as she hid her blushing face.

Oh, how badly he wanted to worship every inch of her body, yet his mind constantly nagged him with thoughts of going too far and possibly making her upset. He wanted to feel her soft legs, to hold her beautiful hips, he ached to feel her skin against his, and if it weren't for the natural pouch that discreetly held the throbbing hardness between his legs, she would know how badly he wanted all of these things; how badly he wanted her.

"Hey, you don't need to hide." She peeked from her hiding spot, and moved her hand back to his chest, her soft touch sending ripples of warmth across his body.

"I've just...never been told that. I've never been complimented like that before." He gave her a sad smile, and rubbed her side.

"I can tell you anytime, I'm constantly noticing little things about you I find breathtaking."

"Like what?" She asked innocently, and his face flushed at the situation he put himself in.

"Ah” He delicately wrapped his fingers around hers, and spoke quietly. ”I love your hands, it baffles me how soft and gentle their touch is, it's enough to calm the most restless spirits. I love your hips, they feel very nice to grab ahold of when I wish to pull you close to me." 

He shook her by a hip as he said this, watching her face as it grew redder and redder.

"I love it when you do that, Sidon." He smiled warmly, hearing her speak sounded like honey for his ears. He pulled her closely by her hip, the familiar hardness poking his leg as she made contact with him startled him, but he didn't physically react.

_ Oh goddess, she  _ **_does_ ** _ love it when I do that. _

She blushed furiously, her face nearly hidden by her messy hair, and her breath grew slower and deeper, as if she was waiting for something; as if she wanted more.

He slid a thumb under the bottom of her shirt, and rubbed the jutting hip bone that he loved so much, watching her, trying to gauge any negative reaction she may be having, but she looked absolutely hypnotized by his touch. He wanted to continue, the prince ached to feel her skin, and he boldly moved up, his cautious hand beginning to travel across her ribcage under her shirt, minding not to touch her scar that he knew she didn't like.

" _ Beautiful _ " He whispered, and he heard her softly whimper, looking at him with such an amazed expression as he moved his hand across her back. He explored her sides, feeling her erection nudge against his leg as he moved his hand up to her breasts. 

She moaned, surprised as his fingers slipped across her right nipple. It was so much warmer than the rest of her body, so much softer, and more tender to the touch. He watched her eyes light up at the feeling of him taking control and playing with her chest, rubbing the tender area in little circles and daring to give it a small pinch, seeing her go through hundreds of positive emotions and keeping eye contact with him all the while. Sidon's heart beat quickly, and his fever threatened to make him dizzy at how hot his body felt, yet he wanted her so badly, he wanted to continue exploring his beloved.

He felt both of his shafts twitch and struggle underneath the sheathe that held them, and to his surprise, he watched a delicate Hylian hand venture underneath the pouch. His heart did somersaults as he looked down at her curious hand, and helped her out, pulling the pouch back and untucking both of his members. The saltwater Zora's throbbing cocks unfurled gratefully. They were both stark white, with cool blue veins that lined the sides and blushed on the tip. The top was considerably bigger than the bottom, one being around twelve inches, the other being around eight, both of which made Link's eyes widen in surprise. She wrapped her feminene fingers around the larger of the two in awe, and stroked it carefully. 

Oh, her hand was so much softer and kinder than he had ever been to his own, each little movement of her fingers felt like it was done with love and care, and he felt himself grunting as his cock twitched in her hand.

"My love, your hand is so... _ ahh _ ." The two moved in to kiss one another, and he practically slammed his lips against hers. He slid a courageous hand down, and in one demanding motion, he pulled her leggings down to her butt as she stroked him. She yipped, blushing nervously as he took her smaller member with two fingers and a thumb, and began to carefully stroke her cock. Her lower half was covered in precum, soaking her leg. She was significantly smaller down there than Sidon, about five inches twitching between his fingers. "This is okay, yes?" He whispered, and she could only respond in messy gasps and a nod, her gentle fingers grasping more tightly around his shaft involuntarily.  _ Oh, of course this part of her is just as adorable as the rest of her. _

It was so smooth and soft, and he heard her squeak and moan between their kisses, gasping in breathes like a fish out of water as his strong hand jerked her. 

_ Goddess, she is so beautiful, I can only wonder how it feels to be inside of her... _

This thought completely and utterly shoved his pleasure over the edge, and he could bear it no longer.

_ "Link, ah, I’m..!"  _ He felt her stroke him even harder and faster, and his cocks both shot large spurts of hot cum on her pale stomach. She responded by her moaning reaching an adorable apex, and she shook as her cock shot little ropes of cum against his leg.

The two laid there, panting as if they’d run a marathon together. He hadn’t even seen or felt all of her body, yet she brought him to orgasm so easily, and his mind swam with  _ literally  _ feverish thoughts and emotions. 

He dared not speak, not to ruin the moment. How could he follow that up with words? His tongue was as tied as her legs were around his, and he gently pulled her close to him, her clothes half off of her body, and his cocks still out of the skin pouch that usually held them so well. 

He looked to meet her eyes, but to his surprise, she had fallen completely asleep.

_Oh, she has been through so much today, hasn’t she?_ As much as he wanted to revel in this beautiful feeling of being so intimate with his love, he couldn’t help but think of what she’d gone through. She thought he had _died,_ even for just that short amount of time, that must have been traumatic for the girl. Passing hypothetical thoughts of holding her lifeless body in his arms tugged his heartstrings tortuously. _She does so much for me, how could I ever hope to repay her?_ He watched her face a bit more, her eyes had bags under them, and her mouth was half open in the deep sleep she was already in. He studied her sleeping expression, thinking of the words that had popped into his head over and over since they’d professed how they felt about each other.

_ I love you, Link. I love you so, so dearly. You make me feel so amazing. _

He nuzzled his head against hers, and very quickly fell asleep to the sound of her breathing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I freaking loved writing a full Sidon chapter and probably will again very soon! I cannot express how thankful I am that you've read this far if you have. It doesn't matter if it's one person reading or a million, I don't care, you matter to me. I love finding my writing legs with this story and shaping it into my own.


	20. What if it explodes, or something?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Sidon are greeted by the first shrine to raise out of the ground in who knows how long, and explore it together!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a few mentions of smut in the beginning of this chapter!

Her eyes opened, the bags of tiredness that weighed her down the night previous had vanished, and she furrowed, confused at the breeze on her crotch. The flooding recollection shocked her, and she pulled her leggings back up over her hips.

_ Oh yeah, we...we did that.  _ Her eyes moved to his two twin members, still laying unfurled from their pouch like two sleeping snakes spooning each other. She blushed, and her heart pounded against her chest at the sight of them.

The mystery of the confusing Zora anatomy was solved, and by Hylia above, she was more than pleasantly surprised. As if it wasn’t clear to her already, the sight of Sidon’s full body sleeping comfortably next to her made her more than sure of her own sexual orientation, and she couldn’t imagine herself being next to anyone else. 

If she knew how he’d react, and if he wasn’t sick, she would definitely have her hand, or perhaps her lips on one of the two, more confidently trying to drive him to orgasm, and she felt her crotch twitch at the idea.

She let out a soft sigh, trying not to stare too much at the prince’s lower half, and quietly pulled herself out of bed. She could practically feel the sweat and grime that accumulated from being in such intense heat the day prior in a disgusting layer on her body, not to mention the aroma of their anxious yet extremely enjoyable foray into sexual intimacy following her, yet that smell didn't bother her nearly as much.

_ Where is that washing board?  _

She dug through the few large rucksacks that had miscellaneous things in them.  _ More luminous stones, yarn, medical tape, a book.  _

_ A book?  _ A thick, tattered red book, hardbound with faded gold lettering on the front caught her eye. " _ The Captains Of The Warmest Shores." _

_ This is Sidon's favorite book. _

_ He really does want to read it to me. _

She smiled lovingly at the cover, her chest fluttering. 

_ He packed this before he even told me how he feels about me. He's too sweet to me. _

She dug a little deeper in the bag, finding the wood and metal washing board folded on the bottom.  _ There you are.  _ She pulled it out carefully, and turned to leave out of Ruta. 

The Hylian studied the opening that the two normally went in and out of, and realized something.

_ Oh. Sidon usually opens this.  _ She turned to the Zora, and he was still sprawled on the mattress, completely stretched out since she had left and holding a pillow in the same way she once did before she began sleeping by his side. 

The day prior, when she had set the beast to go in the specific little spot they were located at near the wetland stable, Vah Ruta simply went to the destination, and the door opened on its own. Link placed a hand on the console, feeling a bit like a fool for doing so, as she certainly wasn’t the Zora champion.  _ Ruta, I smell really gross. Can you let me out?  _ No lights flickered, no fanfare, no warning, but the staircase dropped with a soft  _ thud  _ in response to her thoughts. She didn't expect it to be that easy, but considering Ruta had more or less a definitive personality, perhaps it thought of her as a friend, maybe even viewed her as a doctor that treated it when it was ill from Ganon's blight.

_Thank you, Ruta,_ the Hylian thought, and she could swear she heard it give a small _hiss_ in response as she walked down the stony steps, almost like a whisper of acknowledgement.

The morning air was breezy, dewy, nearly bone chilling as she had come to love. She knew there was a little spot where she could have privacy to bathe, as she had been eyeing it the day prior for the same reason, but couldn't get around to the task. It was a little spot at the side of the nearby river where the rock covered some of the water in a sharp bend in the river's shape. It was absolutely perfect, out of sight of Ruta and the people coming and going from the Wetland Stable along the roads. 

She set her clothes down with the board in the clear, cold rushing water, and began washing them one by one. As she scrubbed, she watched the small groups of freshwater salmon swim upstream casually, undeterred by her presence. The coexistence of wildlife and actual civilization among Hyrule was peacefully harmonious, it was rare to find a rabbit or a fox that didn’t curiously watch the Hylian traders and travelers that walked the roads, save for the areas of dense plant life that were actually used as hunting grounds near some of the more volatile regions, such as Faron, rife with wild angry boar, or the plentiful Lake Hylia, filled to the brim with aquatic life for any fisherman or woman to claim. She only hoped that it would stay this peaceful after Hyrule begins to flood again with people, and small towns begin to dot the lonely roads again.

_ Okay, I need to actually bathe.  _ She looked around, and nervously and quickly undressed upon assessing the coast as clear, and grabbed her bar of soap, working her body into a quick lather in the cold and lazy river. The soap smelled of sweet honey and ginger, a pleasant change from the stench of sweat and fear that was caked onto her body just moments before. She had picked the bar up off of a trader the night previous, merely by chance.

As it turns out, mostly everyone she asks has something for trade, even if the title of trader isn't something they identify with. She quickly toweled off, not wanting to be exposed to the elements any longer than she needed to be. She sat near the rock wall, hidden from sight of any potential onlookers, and rested for a few minutes to let herself dry off in the quickly warming morning air.

She let out a contented sigh, and her mind drifted to the night previous.

The way Sidon just...took control and rubbed his hand all over her bare chest was so blissfully overwhelming. Did she really make it that obvious that she wanted him? Or could he not help himself any more? Oh, she  _ liked  _ that idea. Thinking of the lovely, thick, blue veined white shafts that Sidon presented her with to stroke as she pleased made her instantly excited again.  _ Ugh. How do you do this to me, Sidon?  _ She poked her rod beneath her towel, trying to will it back down with her mind alone. She sighed frustratingly, opting to wear two pairs of underwear at once to hide any unsightly excitement, a bra, and slid a pair of clean leggings and one of the nice, beautifully knitted shirts that Zelda once owned on her body.  _ Ah, normal. _

She set a fire underneath a little kettle of water, wanting some of the tea that Sidon had so nicely thought to get her when he thought she’d actually stand to leave the domain without him. That thought was still an unpleasant one to the girl. She tried to shake it out of her head as she plopped down on the gigantic wood log that acted as the seat for so many people who used the little fire site; a small public place that she hoped no one else needed to use at the time, especially since she ‘parked’ Ruta so close by.

She was hoping she’d have breakfast ready by the time Sidon woke up, fishing a handful of eggs and some veggies from the grocery bag she had with her, and assembling them in a large wok to fry for the two of them. She set her hot tea aside to steep, ready to try her hand at egg frying with no prior experience.  _ Couldn’t be that hard, right? Hot and fast, Orrr nice and slow?  _ She opted for the safer route, snuffing out some of the flame and setting the scrambled salty egg mixture over the fire, and scooting a stump over to the wok to watch as it coagulated and cooked before her very eyes. After some time of watching the steaming mixture, she kicked some dirt over the fire, feeling as though it was finished, and felt a tender hand with sharp nails run through her still damp, cold hair. It would have startled her, if it wasn’t accompanied by a very gentle and polite tone from a certain handsome prince, speaking over the sound of the rushing river that babbled nearby.

“Good morning, beautiful.” She swore she could melt right then and there at his touch. Leaning her head back against the muscular support of his stomach was better than any pillow. She could only stutter, as her heart was in her throat. 

“Ahh- h-hello prince. Are you feeling okay?” She felt as he carefully got to a knee behind her, and nuzzled his head on her shoulder, planting little kisses on her cheek and speaking quietly.

“I’m feeling more than okay, my love.” She huffed, her cheeks feeling so hot and her heart racing wildly at how sweet he was being. “Oh, you smell so nice, you lovely girl.” She reached up and ran her fingers against his jawbone, moving her lips to his, and giving him a soft, slow kiss.

“I made food, come sit.” She couldn't see his whole face from the angle he was at, but could see him crack a large smile, and heard his gills huff in protest. 

“Let me stay just a little longer.” She would have insisted, if not for the lingering taste of his lips that made her want them back, and she graciously accepted as he pressed his mouth against hers again. She placed her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him to her and intensifying their bond, shoving her legs together to hide her growing erection all the while. Their euphoric coupling was interrupted by a tremor, a small earthquake that they could barely detect. He pulled from her, and gave her a quizzical look.  _ Did he feel that, too? _

“What was that?” Link asked. Sidon shrugged, scanning the area around them. 

“Aftershocks from Death Mountain, perhaps? I’m glad im not the only one that noticed that, especially with how small it was.” His gaze went from worried, and quickly melted back to happy as he looked at Link’s expression. She blushed a little, admiring how beautiful he was at that angle, seeing his piercing yellow irises in the pale blue morning light. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, and pulled back and stood.

“Alright, what’s for breakfast?” 

“Eggs and peppers! And tea, if you want some!”

“Another thing I’ve never tried! You are definitely pushing my palette to its limits!”

“Well, I’m not a hundred percent sure you’ll like it, but if you don’t I can make you something else!”

She got a few bowls, and scooped some food up for the both of them, listening to the sound of Sidon affixing his metal garments to his person. He politely sat down on the long log, and yawned. 

“Just feed me curry until I’m stuffed to the gills, that’s a fate I’ll more than happily succumb to.” She chuckled loudly, holding out a bowl to the prince and sitting next to him. 

“Me too, Sidon.”

“Oh, you think I'm joking, but I could eat your curry every night for the rest of my life and be happy.” He grabbed the bowl happily and took a bite. No reaction. Deadpan. Nothing.

“It’s okay” he said with as much optimism in his voice as he could. 

_ Oh, he hates it. _

“You hate it!” She playfully jabbed, and he shook his head, swallowing hard. 

“No, it’s not that! I just...eggs are such a strange concept to me, it’ll take some getting used to!”

She bit into the eggs as well. A bit overcooked; a tad rubbery. She opted to just eat the mixed peppers, embarrassingly shoving the eggs to one side of the bowl. 

“They’re not... _ that _ bad.”

“No, they really aren’t, i'm just picky.” She pressed her lips together, furrowing her brow. 

“Hey, how did you sleep, prince?”

“Oh, Link.” He turned to give her a serious expression. “I slept so well last night.” He paused, taking a moment to think before he spoke again. “I would think it’s safe to assume you did too, with how abruptly you fell asleep after...” She blushed furiously, and cleared her throat.

“Yeah, I was so exhausted.” He smiled adoringly at the Hylian.

“Yes, I know. Thank you for everything you did yesterday. You are so amazing, Link.”

“I’m just happy you’re okay, prince. I-”

The two felt another rumbling, and met each other’s confused looks. 

“There it was again! That  _ cannot _ be goo-” Another tremor shook the ground, nearly knocking her tea over that had  _ just  _ finished steeping. She grabbed it in response, looking around nervously, and as if it were responding to her movement, the earth beneath them shook once more in a final, earth shifting quake. The two perked up at what sounded like confused yelling coming from the Wetland stable.

“Let’s go.” She nodded, practically chugging the entirety of her tea and setting it aside, and ran up the stairs of Vah Ruta to grab her sword. 

“Do you think someone got hurt?” He shook his head, craning his neck to hear the ramblings over the rushing river.

“No, I don’t think so, their yelling just  _ happened  _ all at once, yes? Maybe they were just as surprised as we were, and reacted more vocally.” 

The two fast-walked over to the commotion, next to the Wetland stable was a group of people standing around a black, cone shaped object protruding from the ground with dirt crumbling around from the fissure it made in the earth. It almost looked like the head of one of those spider-like creatures that they had smashed with Vah Ruta, but much larger, bearing a gaping hole on its side, glowing with the familiar blue circuitry that Link and Sidon were so used to by that point. 

“Wait, wait.” Link pulled her slate from her hip, and looked at her map. 

“What is it, Link?” She looked up at him and spoke with relief, and newfound curiosity.

“It’s a shrine!” His brow shot up in recollection, and the two watched as a group of Hylian traders confusedly tried to make sense of the object. The bravest one of the group, a tan, middle aged Hylian man stepped in the little hollow opening that was on its side.

“Kidoh, be careful!” A female voice spoke among the crowd.

“Hon, I’m fine! See!” The man did a confident little dance as to further drive home the fact that he’s safe in the little divot. “Kinda anticlimactic, don't you think?” 

“Just get out of there, what if it explodes or something?”

He was right, nothing happened at all. It just sort of sat there, calmly glowing neon blue. Sidon kneeled next to Link, meeting her at eye level to speak, yet with how eye-catching Sidon was, the only thing he could do was try to speak out of earshot of everyone but the girl.

“Shiekah technology, just sprouting from the ground out of nowhere? Were things like this happening when I was still in the domain?” She shook her head.

“I don’t think so.” She looked behind her, the beam of light from Rudania was still trained on the blight of Hyrule Castle, just as the beam that shot from Naboris. “Maybe it’s because we tamed Rudania.” He furrowed.

“Maybe. Three out of four is quite the considerable portion, maybe their technology is responding to your efforts?” She frowned.

" _ Our  _ efforts, Sidon." He smiled warmly, and Link perked up as her slate vibrated a little.

“I think it wants me to go over there.” He winced, anxious at the idea of her getting hurt.

“May I accompany you?” Her eyes knit in an expression of worry.

“Of course, you are a champion, right?” He smiled brightly. The two approached the murmuring crowd, the bulk of which had died down a bit more as people were losing interest in it. It seemed that unusual happenings were commonplace for traders who saw many things among Hyrule’s abandoned roads,and attention spans had a tendency to be on the brief side with such a demanding title as roving trader.

Link and Sidon waded through the small crowd, a path forming to accommodate the prince’s large size and regal aura. There was a panel on the floor of the little arch shaped opening, and it glowed brightly as the two approached.

“Okay, Sidon, we’re going in at the same time alright?” He wrapped an arm around her, firmly holding onto a shoulder.

“Yes, ma’am.” The two took a confident step forward, and the crowd behind could be heard holding their collective breaths as the daring couple stepped onto the small panel. 

_ Nothing.  _

Nothing, for at least a few seconds. 

The two had their balance tested as Link’s slate clicked, and the bullet shaped archway shut closed. The two were suddenly carried downward by the ground beneath them. The descent felt close to what she experienced when Ruta stepped down from the East reservoir, a stomach turning sensation that she felt push behind her eyes; except this was coupled with the claustrophobic tube they were surrounded with as they went deeper and deeper. She felt Sidon’s nails digging into her arms as he held her small body nervously, trying to keep her and his own balance in the ancient lift. Regardless of its antiquity, the sounds were quiet in the elevator, no rusty wailing or ancient metal joints squeaking together, it was as if the inner and outer workings that made up every ancient shiekah object was just as new as the day it was built. The lift below them made a simple humming sound as they descended, making the only thing Link could hear other than that were her and her boyfriend's nervous breaths in the cramped space around them. 

“Prince? Do you know what’s happening?” Her voice sounded like it was bouncing around the small space around them.

“No! I’m afraid I don’t, actually. We're going  _ down... _ though I'm sure you already knew that. I don't know why I brought it up.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at his oddly polite and casual sounding tone in such a dire situation. 

Then again, he would be one to put his utmost trust in Shiekah technology, as it had saved his life several times in the form of Vah Ruta. The lift passed a threshold, and a bright, artificial light stung their eyes as they were greeted by a wide room. Wide was indeed an understatement, as it seemed so unnecessarily  _ large. A bit  _ less than the size of a colosseum, yet it bared a rectangular shape.

“By my lineage, what is this place, Link?” 

The walls were similar to Ruta’s; stone and glowing blue circuitry lined them in curious fashion, along with stone decorations that acted as torches lining the walls, holding blue flame that flickered, glowing unnaturally brightly on the complex wiring among the walls. 

“I...I have no idea, prince.” Link could see patterns not uncharacteristic of the Shiekah people’s cultural aesthetic accentuating the tiling of the floor as the lift settled itself into the ground gracefully. The perfectly symmetrical tiling was only broken by a sandpapery looking carpet that lined all the way up to a curious looking altar at the end of the room. 

The vast horizontal expanse was breathtaking, for sure, but Link could only wonder how far they were below ground. Despite the intensely complex looking mechanical walls, there wasn’t much to be said about what the room held in general, other than what she could assume was a sort of memorial for a Shiekah person long past on the end opposite the two, and next to it was a small console, similar to the one in Ruta, but a bit smaller. She could hear Sidon inhale a very large breath. 

"By Hylia,  _ look  _ at this place! This supersedes all historical texts of Shiekah record! Just  _ imagine  _ what took place here!" He waved his arms wildly, much to Link's amusement.

"No kidding, I don't think anyone's been down here forrr…" she waited for him to finish her sentence, hoping he'd know more on the subject than she did.

"Ah! Most likely an absolutely  _ dizzying _ amount of time! Thousands,  _ tens _ of thousands of years,  _ easily!"  _ His excitement definitely made her feel more than riled up, contagiously giggling as he happily scooped her up in the cavernous room and spun her around and gripped her tightly for a hug.

"Aha, Sidon! You're gonna make me throw up if you spin me too much!" He chuckled as he kissed her cheek passionately, and set the small girl down, meeting her gaze on one knee.

"Thank you, thank you  _ so  _ much for the opportunity to travel by your side. I'm so lucky, Link." Her heart throbbed in her chest, and she felt her eyes sting with tears. The mysterious Shiekah technology absolutely had Link's curiosity, but she couldn't help but find Sidon's excitement and genuine happiness the thing that really amazed her.

"I'm the lucky one, prince. Thank you, too." She sniffled loudly, the sound nearly echoing off of the pristine walls.

"Come, my love, let's go look at...whatever that is." he gestured vaguely at the direction of the memorial.

The two walked cautiously along the rough carpet, taking their time and soaking the strange, alien atmosphere.

"Why such a big room for a shrine?" He looked to her determinedly. If there was such a thing as an eagerness and excitement at one's own confusion, Sidon's face had that expression written all over it.

"While im not sure, I do speculate that all of those shrines on your map sort of converge into an underground network, perhaps even serving a larger purpose." She quirked an eyebrow, feeling a spark of intrigue toward his theory.

"You think this room isn't just a memorial?"

"I know it's hare-brained, but hear me out." She nodded, trying to contain how happy she was to see him so excited. "So, we're  _ fairly _ deep underground. This room has so much intricacy, so many bells and whistles that it  _ can't just _ be for memoriam. Look at that, for example!" He pointed at the little console at the very far end of the cavernous room. 

"A console?" He nodded, his eyes widening.

"Mhm! A console! Here, in a shrine dedicated to someone long dead!" She giggled at how intense he was into this thought process. 

"You make a compelling case, mister detective." He chuckled, playfully nudging her as they more comfortably walked the halls.

"It's just that so much of Shiekah culture is born from such simplicity, yes? Think of the architecture, the clothes they wear, even down to their very core beliefs do they specify their minimalism. This place, though? it's gratuitous! Grand! It puts the Zora dining hall to shame!" He huffed. "I apologize for going off the rails a bit." She looked at him starry eyed.

"Hey! No, I'm really interested! I feel like you're really onto something with your theory!" The greater details of the Shiekah table that held several incense burners and glowing blue rings of prayer beads came into view. The two recoiled, realizing what was sitting on the king size mattress-sized shrine. It was a mummified Shiekah, brittle looking in a meditative sitting position. The air was heavy, and stuffy, and the peaceful looking yet definitely  _ dead _ monk didn’t put Link’s nerves at ease.

"If this place wanted us dead, it probably would’ve killed us by now, right?" Sidon grew quiet at this, his eyes grew a bit distant in thought.

"Do you think this place can  _ want _ anything?" She furrowed her brow, confused at his sudden philosophical inquiry.

"What do you mean?" He shifted his gaze over to the console.

"I mean, do you think this room is like Ruta? Think about it, the strange patterns on the walls, the console, the lift that recognized your slate! It might just...ah, nevermind." She shook her head, moving to his line of sight to get his attention.

"Hey, prince, you can tell me. I really like it when you think out loud." He smiled nervously, darting his eyes around and trying to avoid her worried look.

"Well, it's not that it's too outlandish a thought, just one that just gives more questions than it provides answers.” She cocked her head.

“Let’s hear it!” He walked over to the little console, and looked back to her to speak. 

“What if this room, or any of the Shiekah technology for that matter,  _ knows _ you're the hero of Hyrule?" Her hands involuntarily gripped into confused fists.

"But...would that also mean it knows you're the Zora champion?" He shook his head.

"I've no doubt that it does. But, Link--" Sidon paused, wincing a bit as if the words hurt as they rolled off his tongue; "--scholars in  _ our  _ age use a good number of techniques to predict Ganon's return. They map the stars, count years and historical event patterns. Who's to say this  _ highly _ advanced civilization can't recognize the hero of Hyrule, someone that lies in the same exact prophecy as Ganon, just holding a different piece of the Triforce?" Her eyes widened, as it certainly was a disturbing idea to the Hylian.

The thought of being part of a prophecy that was created by the same goddesses that made the realm of Hyrule itself was something that had never really registered in Link’s head, as if she preferred not to think on it. She held a hand to her forehead, feeling faint, and Sidon tensed at the sight of her wobbling unsteadily.

“Ah, Link, I’m so sorry!” He quickly walked over and steadied her, the room was spinning underneath her feet. 

“No, Sidon, it’s okay. It’s just...I don’t know how I could disagree with you. Why, though?” Sidon inhaled a stressful breath.

“Maybe we should discuss the subject later. I’d like to be more sure of my crazy theories before I open my mouth again. I can’t have you fainting on me in here, my love.” 

She winced, holding her head as a headache began to pound rhythmically behind her skull. She felt her boyfriend's hand move her hair from her face, and the pain that throbbed along with her heartbeat was shooed away by a sweet kiss on her forehead. She drew back to admire the prince’s loving gaze. “I know it’s quite a change of subject, but can we talk about the mummy over there?” He casually pointed to the black, nearly skeletal Shiekah, and Link chuckled loudly.

“Yes. Yes we can.” The two walked over to the serenely peaceful looking Sheikah monk. It’s eyes were gently shut, and a small frown of concentration was apparent on its mummified skin. 

“I could have sworn it was a statue from far away.” Sidon placed a curious hand on the prayer beads that laid on the shrine next to the monk, and they glowed brightly to his touch. “Ah, brighter than a luminous stone, look at that. Simply mesmerizing.”

“He looks really peaceful.'' Link said calmly, and Sidon looked at the cross-legged monk.

“I think he looks stern. Like he’s upset, but also in deep concentration.” The two looked at the monk like museum goers would to an art piece. “I wonder what he did. Maybe he was one of the masons that built this place.” He paused and put a finger to his chin in thought. “Masonry may not be the right profession, actually. The people designated to help build all of this must have had quite the unique title.” 

“Whoever they were, they got their own  _ huge _ room when they died, that’s so over the top!” Sidon chuckled out of his gills.

The small Hylian looked over to the console, only a few feet away from the memorial of the embalmed Shiekah. She walked over to it, noting her slate vibrating as she approached.

“Oh, here we go, prince.” She pulled the device from it’s belt, and looked to Sidon. “Wanna come watch what happens?” He chuckled, shrugging.

“I suppose there's no harm! Like you said, if they wanted to kill us, they most likely would have by now.” The two stood close to each other as they watched Link’s Shiekah slate vibrate harder and harder as it got closer to the ancient panel. The familiar strong click against the console brought the slate to life, and it went through a myriad of screens, all of which looked to be schematics and walls of ancient Shiekah kanji. Even if she could understand the language, the bold lettering simply went by too quickly. The slate clicked again, and relaxed against the console. Normally, it would shut off by this point, but the screen stayed on a specific page, one that was completely black, save for a bit of white, blocky Hylian writing.

_ Builder status = null _

_ Interlopers = null _

_ Threat level = null _

_ Holder detected.  _

_ Ignore and override. _

_ Magnesis permitted. _

_ Magnesis acquired. _

She took the slate, staring at the message confusedly.

“What’s a holder?” Link asked, tapping and shaking the screen to get it off of the page it seemed to be stuck to.

“I...don’t know. The slate holder?” Her eyes opened widely, noticing a little icon on the bottom left. Yellow and pixelated was the symbol of the Triforce. Link noticed that one of the three triangles was blinking red. Her heart dropped, and she suddenly felt as if the world was watching her.

“No, a triforce piece holder. You were right. This place knows me, Sidon.” The prince leaned forward to squint at the little icon, and furrowed. She didn’t know whether to be relieved at this, or thoroughly disturbed. If it wasn’t for the prince being so close by, she might not have taken the news in such a composed way. The prince spoke up in the most assuring tone he could muster.

“I’d go as far as to say that might be a good thing. If there’s a web of ancient Shiekah advancements across Hyrule that recognize your spirit, who knows what they were- or I suppose still  _ are _ trying to do with that knowledge.” 

“What?” Link asked, and Sidon bit his lip nervously. 

“So, if they created the beasts to help destroy Ganon, they must have good intent when it comes to wanting to identify you, we just don’t know what that  _ is  _ yet. We’re safe.  _ You  _ are safe, Link. I can promise you that.”

The realization of her spirit being recognized by the ancient technology was more than strange, as if someone had caught her naked. Regardless of this odd feeling, she relaxed a bit, because Sidon was right; the ancient Shiekah tech has been imperative to them, an ally among opposition. The prince got on one knee, and wrapped an arm around her side, sighing contentedly at Link’s quickly calming breaths.

“Who’s to say we won’t know what this all means in due time? Saving three of the divine beasts has brought us to this altar, maybe we can expect more of our questions to be answered once we tame Vah Medoh and destroy Ganon.” She nodded.

“I don’t even know if I want the answer, prince. I just...I just want to be normal. I want to feel normal.” She watched as his expression fell into a sad smile.

“I...I want you to feel that way, as well. I couldn’t express to you how badly I wish for this burden to not be plopped down on your shoulders every time your spirit reawakens. The idea of harm coming to you from such overwhelming evil brings my heart to tatters, Link.” His voice quivered, Link had never put too much thought into what her past lives had went through, but it seemed to bother Sidon a great deal. 

“I feel safe around you, Sidon.” He smiled, his eyes still showing a hint of sadness.

“Good. That’s all I could ever hope for, my love.” She stole a quick kiss on his cheek, and he blushed in surprise. He responded with a full on assault of little butterfly kisses all over her cheeks, sending her into a giggle fit and making her laughter bounce off of the walls of the cathedral-like chamber. 

“Shall we go?” She nodded, glancing down at her slate, and was caught off guard at what she saw. “What is it, Link?” Her camera seemed to have turned itself on, but there was something... _ strange  _ about it.

“That thing we use to capture each others likenesses, it just turned on. But look at your wrist cuffs! And your sword! And my sword!” The screen was highlighting the metal objects that adorned Sidon’s person with a bright pink hue on the screen, as well as anything else metal as she moved her camera across the room. There was a glowing little button that was on the side of the device whenever she pointed the camera directly at something metal.

“Oh, that's equal parts terrifying and intriguing!” She chuckled nervously at his comment.

“There’s a little button that glows when I point it at specific stuff, hang on.” She undid the blade of the eight from her belt, and placed it on the ground in front of them. The two stood back, and gave each other nervous glances, and flinched as she pressed the button. An orange beam shot from the front of the device and onto her sheathed sword, emanating a soft hum all the while. What was it doing? Destroying the object? Putting an electric charge through it? She could think of no possible answer until she moved her wrist slightly up, and the sword followed the beam straight into the air. 

“What!  _ What _ ??!” She exclaimed, and Sidon was heard making equally amazed noises. 

“Oh my... _ how _ …” They both watched in amazement as she made the beam carry the sword around the room effortlessly, as if it were a seperate arm.

“Sidon! I can move metal with a button!” He made a noise that was a mixture of amazement and adoration.

“How is your arm not tired?! Isn’t that sword heavy?” She turned to look at him excitedly, the sword being flung by the beam against the wall, making a loud  _ clang _ as it fell to the ground. She was too amazed by the feature, and picked the poor sword back up with the strange new power she wielded. 

“It doesn’t feel like it weighs anything! How is this physically possible!?” He held a hand over his face in amazement, both of their minds were racing with endless possibilities with this new power.

“This must be what your slate meant by that word, ‘magnesis’.” She giggled. 

“Yeah, that’s a fitting name. I wonder if they used this to build stuff.” 

“And now we just  _ have  _ it?!” Sidon waved his arms excitedly, speaking loudly. “Imagine lobbing a chunk of steel at a Lynels head with that thing!” She rocked her head back in gleeful hysterics, she’d never heard Sidon suggest something so utterly  _ violent  _ before.

“ _ THAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF?”  _ He responded with a whimsical fit of laughter himself. “What about helping build houses, or moving debris in ruins, you goofy man!?” He began laughing so hard that all that was heard with a silent clicking sound from the back of his throat.

“Oh, dearest, you’re going to give me a heart attack!  _ I just thought it was a satisfying visual! Yes,  _ yes, okay, helping people is wonderful! That in and of itself is a given! BUT, you must admit the idea of having the upper hand over such a horrifying creature is quite the amazing thought!” She rolled her eyes, still giggling at him and nudging him playfully as she put her sword back around her waist. 

“C’mon, silly prince, let’s go get you some fresh air.” He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, and the two stepped onto the elevator that carried them upward with surprising speed. The suffocating cylindrical lift was still fairly uncomfortable, that is, until it opened up into the familiar, cooler noontime air of Hyrule. They were surrounded by a loose group of dedicated traders who were waiting to see if the two would come back, and they quickly surrounded them and peppered them with questions. 

“What did you see?” 

“Was there any treasure down there?”

“Can I go down with you!?” Sidon chuckled especially at that one, as it sounded like it came from an eight year old girl. He seemed to be taking the questioning in stride, holding out a hand and politely trying to answer all he could. He was so formal and polite, he’d give anyone the time of day as far as Link knew. She watched him fraternize with the group of Hylian traders, cracking jokes and smiling at their badgering, yet understandably confused questions. 

_ That guy is my boyfriend.  _ She still felt her arms and legs tingle and her cheeks flush as she came to the overwhelming realization for the millionth time since they’ve started calling themselves a couple. 

_ This wonderful, polite, loving man, wants me to be his. Look at his smile. Ah, he's laughing, he's got such a handsome voice. You are so lucky, Link. _

“What did you think of him, Link?” She looked at him with a start.

“Huh?” 

“I was just telling this nice group of people about the monk we saw.” She shook herself out of her daze, and looked at everyone in the crowd.

“Yeah! He um...he looked great for his age!” Sidon abruptly snort laughed, smiling down at her and noticing the blush on her face. He could probably tell that she was spacing out, she just hoped he wasn’t too worried about her, as she was more than happy.

“Anyways, just try not to open it up, as it drops down to a  _ considerable  _ depth, I don’t want anyone getting hurt as a result.”

As the two walked back to Vah Ruta, Link looked at all the things that lit up on the slate around them that were able to be picked up. From metallic rock, to a few metal objects hidden in the grass, it seemed like anything that was glowing in the camera was able to be grabbed by the device.

“Go ahead, pick something up!” She aimed it at a boulder she couldn't otherwise lift up on her own, and shot the strange orange beam at it. It attached itself just as easily as it did with her sword, and she lifted it off the ground with just a small adjustment of her wrist.

“Amazing! You're stronger than me now, Link!” She blushed, glancing at his cheeky smile. 

It felt like picking up nothing, yet as she dropped it back down, they were reminded of how heavy it actually was as it shook the ground slightly with its titanic weight.

"Think of all the ways we could help with that. That could considerably aid in relief efforts, even so much as building new towns from the ground up!" Link gave a snarky smirk.

"Sure you don't wanna lob something at a lynel with it?" She heard him begin giggling again, working himself up into another fit.

"Don't poke your fun! Im being serious, you little bokoblin!" She giggled, scanning the ground as they walked closer to their comfortable mobile home. She almost found the fact that it could detect metal so well more entertaining than picking things up. 

She'd seen rusty, broken sword handles, discarded fishing lures, horseshoes, and she wished she had more time to explore for other curiosities, yet she could only think of telling Impa of the shrines.

“We should probably go to Kakariko, prince. I need to tell the Shiekah elder about what we found. Plus I have a friend there who I miss.” He gave an enthusiastic nod.

"Of course! I'd be more than happy to help explain what we saw, if you'd like me to." 

The two walked up the stairs of the beast.

"Of course, prince. Everyone there is gonna love you." She smiled at her own comment.

_ It's impossible not to. _

She set her slate down on the main panel, and set Ruta to go near the alternate route to Kakariko Village near the wetlands, and the two sat down on their rickety little couch.

"Who's your friend?" Sidon asked innocently. It never really occurred to her that most of her short amount of time from waking up in the still water of the resurrection chamber to when she was found on Sidon's doorstep was still a mystery to the prince.

"She's a really energetic little twelve year old Sheikah girl who likes to whittle. She made this for me." She showed the prince the little charm that swung from her bag by a small piece of rope. 

"Wow, that's quite the expert craftsmanship for someone so young."

"She told me it's a good luck charm." She chuckled, rubbing her thumb over the little totem. "I definitely feel lucky." She looked at the prince with a loving expression as she said this. He returned her smile, his cheeks flushing cyan.

"I'm lucky too. You make me feel like the luckiest man in Hyrule." Sidon could tell her anything in that velvety, sweet and quiet tone that he spoke in when he was being romantic and it would make her heart do acrobatics in her chest.

"Ah-- Prince." She nuzzled her face to his, kissing his cheek and putting some of her weight on him. She felt so tingly all over when he spoke to her like that, like she was putty in his hands. She felt a loving hand rub her side, and a pair of lips press against her cheek.

"Yes, my dearest?" Even if he was trying to be smooth, she could still hear a hint of passionate nervousness ooze from the cracks in his tone.

"Nothing, you just...make me feel all fuzzy. You really make me feel like a girl."

He squeezed her hip gently, and pulled back a bit to meet her face to face.

"You  _ are _ a girl. You're a wonderful, beautiful woman, Link." Her breath caught in her throat, and she tried not to hide away from his gaze behind her hair like she normally did. "If you ever feel like you're anything less than that, please, tell me, okay?" Her lips pulled up into a thankful, bashful smile. It felt like Sidon really knew how to make her feel valid. 

"Okay, prince." The two could see the tree line that made up the alternate path on the cliff edge of Kakariko out of Ruta's front aperture, and could make out the tall, red arches that were planted along the winding path. Ruta stopped them right near the rarely trodden road, and Link stretched her body lazily as she slumped against Sidon's body.

"Stretchy girl, are you sleepy?"

She shook her head determinedly, hopping up energetically after a quick yawn.

"No! I don't have time to be sleepy! I have friends to see!" Sidon chuckled.

"Well, let's go then!" Link made sure to grab her crossbow, remembering how Hana wanted to make her bolts, and most likely wanted her to try them out. 

The two walked down Ruta's steps, and Link took the lead for once, walking a little ahead of Sidon. The beautiful dark wood and fluttering pink blossom petals of Kakariko's trees were a wonderful welcome back, even more so than the familiar arches that held little red tags of kanji all over them. She could hear the sounds of hammers hitting nails, and long saws grinding against thick boards of wood as they turned the corner to Kakariko proper. 

The town had expanded a bit, a few more nearly completed looking houses hugged against the rocky wall of the alternate route. Link could see Hana's behemoth of a father hammering into the side of a house, concentrating with a few nails sticking out of his mouth. The two turned a corner, and the lovingly cozy, compact little village surrounded them like a welcoming, yet somewhat suffocating hug. 

"Ah, breathtaking! Shiekah woodwork is much more stunning in person than it is in illustration." She took in the sights and sounds of the welcoming little town, watching the residents as they moved around, scanning the area for a certain familiar face.

Link tapped on the prince's shoulder, and pointed to Impa's house.

"That's the elder's temple! I couldn't keep my eyes off it when I first got here." She heard him make an amazed gasp.

" _ Wow.  _ Just when I think the additions to the domain were structurally impressive."

"Hey, it's not like the domain isn't beautiful, too!" Sidon shrugged, following her through the small crowd.

"I agree with you, but I have been looking at the domain for a hundred years. Speaking of which, I wonder where the scholar the council sent is." Link approached the two guards standing in front of the stairway to Impa's temple, the same two older Shiekah men that guarded the area last time, and much to her surprise they parted and gestured the two in.

"Was wondering when you were going to return, Impa was worried sick until the Zora scholar appeared!" She stopped, not fully expecting to hear something so sweet from the gruff looking man. 

"Thank you. I feel bad for not coming back earlier." He shook his head, smiling forgivingly.

"No, talk has circulated among traders, we understand you've been busy. Go ahead, she's missed you." She nodded, and heard Sidon walk behind her as she made her way up the long stairway to Impa's temple. 

"My legs weren't meant for so many stairs, Link!" She turned her head back, Sidon was panting and holding his chest dramatically as they approached the sliding door.

"Do you need a minute, prince?" He chuckled, and took a deep breath. 

"No, I'm just…ahh, okay, i'm ready!" She smiled, and knocked on the fragile door to Impa's abode. She heard Impa's familiar voice speak.

"Yes, come in, Link!" She slid the door open, smiling ear to ear as she saw the elder Shiekah sitting on her comfortable pillow in the back of the room. Sidon ducked his head down under the low door to walk in, and looked around the warm room. The home smelled of rosy incense, and there were stacks of yellowing papers and books near the staircase that weren't there the last time Link visited.

"How'd you know it was me?" She chuckled weakly.

"That door is paper thin, dear. It's so good to see you again." The peaceful elder looked up at Sidon. "This is the Zora prince, I take it?" Link was going to answer, but Sidon offered a greeting.

"Hello, lady Impa. Yes, I am Prince Sidon. It's such an honor to meet you and visit your absolutely lovely village." She smiled warmly at the prince.

"Ah, I wouldn't consider it my own. Maybe the elder that preceded me would have, but I believe Kakariko belongs to it's people. Come, sit, sit." The two sat close to each other, sharing the big flat pillow that laid flat against the bamboo mat on the floor. "We have much to discuss, but allow me to be so formal. Would either of you like any tea?" Link nodded, and Sidon waved a hand politely.

"No, but I do appreciate the gesture!" 

" _ Paya, dear? Link is back. Could you bring some tea?"  _ Paya spoke, her voice muffled even through the thin walls.

"Yeah, of course! Hi, Link!"

"Hi!" Link looked to Impa, and the Hylian's face fell to a more sobered expression. "One of the shrines have resurfaced, we went inside of it." Impa cocked her head, and her eyes widened.

"Oh, my…" She grew silent, the sounds of clacking cups and a running faucet was heard upstairs, along with muffled giggling. "It allowed you entry? Do, go on, dear."

Link cleared her throat.

"It just  _ happened _ the morning after we tamed Rudania, we-" Impa held up her wrinkled hand, looking as if her small body was nearly about to faint.

"You tamed Rudania? Hold on, this is all much too important." Paya was heard thumping down the stairs, and she looked completely shocked by the prince's presence in the room. "Paya, could you call Mona down? Tell her to bring her pen, we need a scribe. Also, say hello to Prince Sidon." Impa chuckled, Paya looking Sidon over nervously as she handed Link her tea.

"H-hi, Prince Sidon. Yes grandmother, of course."

"Hello there!" Sidon chuckled, holding up a hand in greeting, and Link could feel him discreetly leaning up against her. It felt more than comforting to feel his affection in the familiar room, around people who she could call her friends.

Paya awkwardly waved before jogging back up the stairs, and barely a moment passed before she returned, followed by a short, light blue female Zora with small white freckles covering her body.

"Prince Sidon!" The short Zora girl spoke, and smiled a surprised gap toothed grin. Sidon chuckled in realization, not expecting to see another Zora in such a place, let alone royalty.

"Ah! There's the scholar! You made it safely, I hope?" She nodded.

"Yeah! the soldiers and I didn't have any issues. We took a bit longer to get here than I thought we would, we kept stopping to sightsee." Her voice was excited and youthful, yet it had a determined and intense demeanor. She looked over at the elder, and the scholar spoke in a polite, careful tone.

"What was it you needed, Lady Impa?" Paya was seen standing close to the scholar, it reminded Link of how close she had stood to Sidon when she was being introduced to the Zora domain. 

“Mona, if you’d be so kind, it appears our champions here have not only tamed Rudania, but unearthed and entered a shrine not but the morning after.” She gave the old woman a respectful, yet exasperated look, giving unbelieving glances at the aforementioned champions. Impa inhaled another slow breath. “We need a written account, and I believe your handwriting to be much better than my own.” Mona exhaled an amazed sigh from her gills, and grabbed a large brown book and an inkwell from behind her. 

“ _ Aha,  _ by Hylia, it would be an honor. This is very exciting, to say the least. All things considered, the Royal family thought the shrines were a myth, and so did the Zora scholars, after a while of playing around with theories.” 

She sat at a pillow, and Paya settled herself right next to her, watching over her shoulder as she began writing the date and time in Shiekah kanji. Paya whispered something to the scholar, and it made the Zora giggle, and she whispered something back. The two looked comfortable, nestled next to the piles of papers and books Link assumed Mona brought from the domain.

“Link, Prince Sidon, if the two of you would be so kind as to tell us again of what you’ve seen.” Impa said calmly.

“Ah, yeah.” The Hylian took a sip from her nearly scalding tea, and spoke. “Prince, do you want to tell her about Ruta?” He nodded.

“I’d be more than happy to. So, the two of us decided after taming Vah Ruta that we would accompany each other. Taming Ruta wasn’t easy, the black smoke that Ganon uses was gunking it up in what  _ looked  _ like the tanks where its water comes from. Just as the beast that Link tamed before it, Ganon’s influence released the previous champion after we purified it. That person was my elder sister.” Link heard Mona gasp.

“M- Princess Mipha? She was  _ alive _ ?” Sidon shook his head in the negative. 

“Ah, no, my apologies. Her spirit was released from Ruta for a short time until she faded. It was...very nice, getting to speak to her once more.” Mona put a hand to her head, rubbing a temple in confusion. 

“That would mean the Shiekah once had the ability to capture and hold spirits in the first place.” Sidon cocked his head.

“I beg pardon?” Mona scribbled something hastily in her papers, her knuckles were white, pressing the pen hard against the book in her concentration.

“You know the little saying people have about the Divine Beasts, yeah? That they have spirits? Wills of their own?” Link felt chills on her body, starting to see where she was going with this. “If Ganon's influence was able to keep Mipha trapped in there in the first place, that would mean that Ruta had a sort of... _ spot  _ to hold her spirit there, to put it simply. That confirms the speculation we’ve had since the royal family brought them out of the ground.” Everyone sort of gasped at that; a silence fell over the room as everyone tried to piece that together in their heads. Sidon spoke, Link could feel his voice vibrate nervously.

“So, you’re saying that all of the divine beasts have peop-...spirits in them?” She spoke immediately, her tone was unsure, but curious.

“A singular spirit, multiple spirits, real or artificial, I don’t know. It definitely wouldn’t surprise me if they could  _ make _ their own spiritual energy with all of their advancements, but considering the fact that they can be held in such a place? Now we know for certain that the legends aren't just legends.” She scribbled something out. “You can go on, sorry, this is all a lot to take in and write down coherently.” Paya put a timid hand on the scholar’s shoulder, and she spoke in a near whisper to Mona.

“Are you okay, Mona?”

“Yeah, I am. This is  _ intense.  _ I'm just excited!” 

Sidon cleared his throat, and spoke again.

“So after that, we used Ruta to pin Rudania to the ground to tame it. The thing that came out of the beast manifested differently than Ruta’s own sickness. I didn’t really get to see it all that well. Link, how would you describe it?” Link shivered, remembering how the strange looking thing bubbled and popped with morbid sounding maniacal screams at her.

“Horrifying.” She chuckled flatly at herself, trying not to think too hard about it. “It was tall, and looked like it was made out of black lava. It sounded... _ scared _ when it was fighting me.” Link felt Sidon’s hand gently placed on her shoulder. “Whatever it was, it had one of those red eye things on its face, kinda like that spider monster that Sidon and I killed with Ruta.” Mona shot her brow up in surprise.

“Spider monster?” They all heard Impa made a small grunt of discomfort.

“Oh, my. The guardians. They were the whole reason Hyrule was taken over so quickly. I thought we had thrown enough innocent lives at those creatures to stop them, apparently there are still more left undestroyed.” Mona spoke up, setting her pen down confusedly.

“What are they?” Impa could only give a weak shrug, it looked as if she didn’t want to say. Link put up a hand to speak.

"They look like divine beasts, but smaller. About the size of a small cabin.” Impa nodded.

“The royal family didn’t know, the Shikeah didn't and still don't know for sure what they are. It’s all speculative. Modern Shiekah assume they were most likely protectors from Ganon’s evil that he ironically pitted against us, just like the divine beasts, just like the lesser creatures of Hyrule, such as the normally harmless Bokoblin, or the otherwise indifferent Lizal tribe.” There was a certain stressful tension in the room, the kind that suffocates more nervous lungs that was only elevated by Impa’s deeply pained expression at re-living the horrors of the calamity, and the sound of Mona scribbling was the only thing heard for what felt like a full minute.

“That makes this theory all the more concrete. Ganon was able to infect the guardians  _ because  _ they’re powered by spirits. I’m assuming the Goron champion was released after you destroyed the blight?” Link nodded at the scholar, sipping her black tea, enjoying how it tasted in the comforting room more than anywhere else.

“Yeah. He said the Gorons were underground, probably, and will only come up when Death Mountain stops erupting, which it did.” 

“ _ Oh,  _ that’s so wonderful to hear.” Impa blurted, relieved. For someone normally so calm and collected, the elder was beginning to show her humanity through her stressed expression, along with the way she gripped onto her own robes on her knees. Mona grabbed a separate sheaf of paper, scribbling a few words, and spoke matter-of-factly.

“I’ll need to let every trader near here know to keep an eye out for them, they may need our help when they resurface.”

“C-can I help you do that?” Paya asked, and the scholar smirked a bit through the side of her mouth, her eyes still concentrating on her paper, and spoke with a bit of jolliness in her voice.

“Yeah, hah, of course you can, Paya.” Mona looked up to Link, and gestured for her to continue.

“So, Sidon and I were making breakfast this morning, and there was a really small earthquake. We thought it was aftershocks from Death Mountain, or something, but they kept coming, one after another, and kept getting stronger and stronger--” 

“--And a temple resurfaced near you.” Mona stated in an inquisitive tone, and Link nodded.

“Yeah. One popped up next to the Wetland stable.” The scholar shook her head, bewildered.

“I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence it resurfaced so close to you. Are you staying in Kakariko overnight?” Link and the prince looked to each other, and quick hypothetical images of enjoying the comforting warm night of Kakariko alongside her love popped into her mind.

“What do you think, Sidon? I’d really like to stay the night.” Sidon smiled.

“Of course. I very much like it here.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thank you for reading! I have like...plans for more than one arc to this fic, so I really don't plan on stopping anytime soon. While I don't hate my writing by any means, I hope I can become a better writer along the way, and hope you stick around to read!


	21. Zora food.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sidon eats sushi and loses his mind, Paya opens up a bit more, and Link has a flashback where she talks to a drunk woman.

“Woah, never heard _anyone_ refer to you so informally before, prince.” Mona pointed her pen at the two, narrowing her gaze. “You’re courting her, aren’t you?” Link felt Sidon chuckle, and watched as Mona nibbled on the other end of her pen in thought, staring down at the already filled pages.

“Yes, I am.” Paya was seen blushing at this, holding one of her long sleeves over her face. Link loved the idea of her and the prince being a cute couple to people, and smiled proudly to herself. 

“The elder council is definitely going to hunt you down, prince.” Sidon waved a hand dismissively. 

“Oh, let them be angry. I, for one, have never been more happy.” Link’s heart fluttered, and she felt him rub up against her in acknowledgment.

Mona chuckled.

“Yeah, I um...I haven’t either. I'm only twenty-five, but I feel like I’ve spent a millenia in the domain. Anyway--” she set down her pen for a moment, and massaged her aching wrist. “--I was thinking that if you stay here, the shrine in Kakariko might actually resurface before you leave.” She shrugged. “Buuut that’s just a hunch. A hunch I'm basing off of how you’ve tamed three out of four of the Divine Beasts." She paused, cracking her knuckles and eyeing Link’s slate. She picked up her pen again to continue cataloging. 

“What did you see in the shrine?” Link nudged Sidon, remembering how happy he was to be in the newly discovered shrine in the first place.

“Go ahead, prince. You loved it there.” He gave her a cheeky smile, and spoke.

“I don’t know if I _loved_ it, I was just so excited to be making such a prolific discovery alongside you!” Link blushed, playfully nudging him. “So, firstly, no one could get in but us, as the lift that carried us seemed to just...ignore the curious traders who surrounded it, but recognized us as we stepped upon it." Mona quirked her brow quizzically.

"It probably recognized Link's Shiekah slate." Sidon politely shook his head.

"Mm, I would agree with you if it wasn’t for what we learned inside, which I'll get to in just a moment. We descended for quite some time in that lift, had to have been three kilometers down, easily. The room we descended to was huge, the Zora dining hall comes to mind.” She nodded, intensely scribbling as he spoke. “The walls were identical to that of Ruta, the glowing blue lines and all. The whole room was illuminated by the most curious blue flamed torches. I swear it’s like they were so much more bright than they had any business being.” He waved an apologetic hand. “Ah, I digress. The monk that the shrine was dedicated to was sitting, mummified on a table surrounded by prayer beads and some offerings.” Everyone was surprised by Impa cackling at this, and slapping her knee in hysterics.

“ _Oh_ , that is rich! I didn’t know they did it that far back in history! I do hope that strange tradition didn’t frighten you all too much, did it dear?” Link wanted to shake her head no, but found it hard to, she could only give an uneasy shrug.

“It didn’t make me feel welcome, but he did look very peaceful.” 

“You poor things. I apologize for that, do, go on!” The elder wiped a tear of laughter from her eyes, sighing fondly. 

"Alongside the memorial sat a console, one not unlike the one in Ruta. When the slate approaches one of these consoles, it vibrates until one sets it down upon it. This console sort of...gave Link's slate a new feature, but not before confirming one of my suspicions." Sidon looked down at Link, as if asking permission to speak of their findings, and she nodded, listening to the maddening scribbles of pen against paper. "It knows she's the hero of Hyrule. It called her a 'holder', and it had a little blinking triforce on the bottom of the slate. The slate knows her, the _room_ does, perhaps all of the Shiekah artifacts do as well."

Mona breathed heavily as she wrote, Link watched Paya's nervous expression as she watched the girl next to her write and contemplate so many things at once.

"This is all so crazy, okay let's try theorycrafting, here--" She set her pen down, wringing her aching wrist once more. "--so we have a sentient room interconnected with her slate along with who _knows_ how many other ancient Sheikah objects...did the slate say anything else?" Sidon furrowed, and looked at Link.

"Do you remember what it said, my love?" Link smiled warmly at Sidon, being called his love almost completely derailed her concentration. 

"Ah, something about us not being builders, but once it noticed i'm a Triforce piece 'holder', it gave us something called magnesis." Mona frowned.

"What is that, some kind of disease?" Sidon laughed abruptly, and held out an assuring hand.

"No, but we simply must show you. Link, could we?" He looked at the Hylian with starry eyes, and she giggled. 

"I think we could, it's weird though, I don't want to startle anyone with what it does." Impa leaned forward on her pillow, curious now.

"Well, now I must know. Show us, dear." Paya and Mona nodded in agreement. Link grabbed the spoon that Paya handed her along with her cup of tea, and set it on the ground. 

They all waited with baited breath as she pointed the slate at the utensil, and picked it up using the orange, alien looking beam that hummed along with her wrist's movements. The three gasped in amazement, and Sidon laughed agreeingly at how speechless they were.

"It carries much heavier things than this. We have no idea why it gave us this, but it did." Mona shook her head, amazed, holding a hand up to her shocked face as the spoon floated around the room.

"If it carries large metal...it may be the room's way of giving you the most helpful multi-tool it can. A peace offering, maybe?" Mona mused, and Impa hummed in thought as everyone watched the glowing beam.

"Vah Medoh is airborne. It may want you to drag it out of the sky." Sidon, Link, and Mona's eyes widened, and the scholar spoke.

“That’s definitely a theory. Did you two have any other plans on how to tame Medoh?” Link and Sidon both nervously stared into the distance, shaking their heads.

“No, I don’t believe we’ve even discussed it at all.” Impa cleared her throat.

“Just outside the door here, you can see Vah Medoh flying over Rito village. While it doesn’t keep them from leaving, it’s practically at a standstill with the Rito, as anytime they’ve tried to stop it, It retaliates by blowing air down on their homes. It also hovers directly above to village so that if it was to be brought down, it would practically destroy everything there. If I didn’t know any better, id say the room gave you that neat little ability to pull it away, and make it land somewhere safer.” Mona chuckled to herself.

“I think you might be right, lady Impa. I’ll never not be amazed at how set apart the ancient Shiekah civilization was to every single other tribe, or village, or race. It’s like they’re completely set out of time." 

"Are you certain they weren't just proficient with magic?" Sidon asked, and Mona shrugged unassuredly.

"At the very least, Shiekah technology is marriage of magic and science, the latter of which we're so far behind on that we're like ants trying to make sense of people. The longest running civilization advanced themselves so far before they fell, and now we're here to pick up where they left off, what, ten thousand years later? Probably more?" She plopped her pen down in its inkwell. 

The ground rumbled slightly, and everyone shared glances at each other. Link remembered how much worse the tremors got as they went on, and she felt the need to warn them.

"We may want to let people know there's going to be an earthquake." 

Mona and Paya locked eyes, and Mona began to stand.

"Okay, we better not waste time. Come on, Paya, let's go. _Ah_ , this is exciting!" Paya giggled, standing up alongside her.

"Should we go with you?" Sidon asked.

"If you could go where the shrine is going to pop up and make sure no one else is standing near it, we'll make sure everyone knows about it coming." 

"Grandmother, is it okay for me to go along with her?" Paya asked softly, moving some delicate looking pottery off of a high shelf with haste.

"Ah, absolutely, dear. Make sure no one gets hurt, but most of all, assure your own safety. I love you." 

"I love you too, grandmother."

Paya bowed to the smiling woman, and the two quickly walked out of the sliding door. The ground responded with a quick, yet stronger rumble.

"Come, Link, let's go find this shrine." Link slid her slate from her belt, and two stood. 

"Be careful, you two. Be sure to tell me what you find." Link nodded, and slid the rickety wooden door open to leave. Regardless of the tense atmosphere, the sight of Kakariko from such a high place was still one to marvel over, even if only for a few passing seconds as she scanned the area for the location the shrine was supposed to appear at. 

“I hope it doesn't upend someone’s house, or farmland.” Sidon mumbled in thought, and Link shared his sentiment with a similar grunt of disdain. The people of Kakariko were walking out of their homes, confused at their normally peaceful town being overcome with tremors, the likes of which that area hadn’t ever experienced being so far away from any ground fault or volcano. 

The two ran down the steps, Link leading them along to the blue dot that signified the shrine on her slate. It looked to be a small way away from the village proper, but it was close to a few straggling homes near the villages outskirts, she could only hope that it wasn't close enough to cause any damage to them. 

“Link! There you are!” From the crowd of confused townspeople, a familiar, short Shiekah girl ran out and hugged the Hylian, knocking the air from her already stressed out lungs. “What’s going on?” Hana looked up at Sidon’s towering form, and her eyes widened. “Woah. You’re tall.” Sidon chuckled.

“Th..thank you!” The ground rumbled beneath their feet once again, causing the nearby crowd to let out confused gasps.

“Hana! Ah, I missed you too.” Link carefully pulled back from the girl, and looked down at her slate. “Sorry, um, an ancient shrine from about ten thousand years ago is about to pop out of the ground.” She said this flatly as she walked. Hana made a confused wailing sound, and Link noticed that her hands were even more calloused and bandaged than they were when she saw her last. 

“ _WHAT? What did you do?”_ She asked loudly, following behind them as they continued scanning near the outer edge of the little town.

“We tamed three divine beasts, now the shrines are starting to come up from the ground. We think the really old Shiekah technology recognizes us, and is trying to help us.” 

Link spotted a grassy clearing, the same one that her map was saying the shrine was located at, and to her relief, the only thing that would get toppled over was an unfortunate tree that was a little too close to the epicenter.

“Who’s we?!” Link looked down, fairly certain everyone would be safe at the distance they stood from the shrine. 

“This is Prince Sidon. He’s the prince of the Zora people, and the unofficial second hero of Hyrule. And um...him and I are together.” Hana laughed as if she was being told a joke, not believing her for a moment as she looked at the prince waving at her. The small shiekah girl gave Link a playful slap on the arm.

“ _No way! You two are so cute! Ahhhh! I missed you so much. Now you have a Zora boyfriend!”_ Sidon and Link both chuckled, sharing quick, shy glances. 

The ground rumbled again, but this time, as Link expected it to cease in a whimper like the end of a dry coughing fit. It didn’t. 

A solid ten seconds of intense shaking tested the foundations of the Shiekah people’s sturdy homes, a power that made the nearby leaves quake. Link grabbed onto Hana, and Sidon followed suit by keeping the two from toppling over. 

This earthquake was much more intense than the one at the Wetland stable, and the reason why rose from the ground slowly in a rumbling crescendo that pounded against the dirt. 

The roots from the trees popped and snapped away loudly as the large, gaping opening of a temple appeared from the soil. This was no shrine, bearing no likeness to the smaller thimble shaped lift they had seen earlier that same day, it was a gigantic, stony rectangular structure that pushed the rock and dirt above it aside like it was nothing, showing a descending staircase uncovered by any door or gate. 

The stairs were beckoning and foreboding, looking seemingly endless as they lowered into the deep.

“Oh...by my lineage.” Sidon whispered, and Hana looked up, shocked at Link, who had an equally confused and aghast expression etched onto her face. 

“Was that supposed to happen?!” Link shook her head slowly.

“The last one wasn’t this big.” The giant structure harmoniously hummed to life, the blue circuitry that was normally lined on ancient Shiekah tech lit the stairs, unveiling from the inky blackness a more welcoming trail. From where they stood, Link craned her head and could see the bottom where the gigantic set of stairs ended, catching a glimpse of a red carpet lining it’s floor.

“ _Ah, would you look at that?”_ Mona was heard, absolutely enthralled and entranced by the structure, running up next to Link to see the place up close. Following behind her was Paya, along with probably the entire population of Kakariko, save for Impa. The townspeople murmured, confused and amazed at the new edition to their humble village. “This isn’t a shrine, that much I know. Could you all wait for me before you go down? I need to grab paper to take notes on this.” She jogged away after Link nodded, and the Hylian looked down at Hana, who still looked just as confused as when the ground started to shake.

“Hiya, Hana. Sorry we had to meet back up like this.” She shook her head, adjusting her wire thin glasses that were threatening to fall off her face. 

“ _Wuh,_ are you kidding me? I don’t think you could beat a greeting that cool! So um...what IS down there?” 

"We don't really know yet." Link muttered. Everyone was beginning to crane their heads down to see the extending staircase go on and on down into the ground.

“Everyone, we think it best for Mona, Link and I to go down there first. If we deem it safe, we’ll see what we should do with it.” Sidon said in his demanding and attention grabbing tone, the one that could give rallying speeches to armies; the same one that could console a restless town in their time of need. 

Everyone seemed to obey, backing up worriedly at the thought of something dangerous being in the chasmic depths of the unknown. Perhaps the group of villagers remembered the losses that were accumulated in the war against the guardians, and wanted nothing more to do with the potential lethality of Shiekah technology.

“Hana! Are you okay? You were next to me one minute and gone the next! I thought you got hurt!” Hana’s dad kneeled down and hugged his daughter, his worry was making his booming voice quiver. 

“Ah, I’m sorry dad, I didn’t know any of this would happen!” He grunted, his anger paled in comparison to how relieved he sounded at his daughters safety.

“I should kick your butt. I’m gonna kick your butt later, remind me to do that.” She giggled embarrassingly, playfully slapping her dad on the back.

“Daaad, everything’s okay. _Ugh,_ you don’t even get this worried when I get hurt while smithing with you.” She wiggled in her worried father’s arms, struggling to breathe in his vice grip. 

“Well, yeah, cause I expect that to happen!” She huffed, wiggling more.

“Are you saying I’m a bad smith?” 

“No! My hands looked even worse at your age!” Her reddening, suffocating face melted into a cheeky grin in an instant.

"So you're saying I'm better than younger you!? Aw, you _do_ love me!"

The large Shiekah man chuckled loudly, shaking his daughter's body.

Link smiled, feeling more than happy that Hana has someone that worries about her so deeply. 

“Did the building you were working on fall over?” The little girl asked, and she was let go by her father’s tight grip.

“No, but it didn’t do us any favors. Knocked us back a few hours of work, we’ve definitely gotta re-tighten some screws, now.” He scratched the back of his head and dared a nervous glance down the stairs, a timid look uncharacteristic of his frighteningly tall and large stature. “Geez, I thought _I_ was a good construction worker.”

“Sorry about that, Renno.” Link said. He looked over at the small Hylian, giving her full body a quick glance, as the last time he saw her, she looked different, to put it lightly.

“Nah, id gladly take minor structural damage in return for an instant mystery temple I don’t need to put any manpower into. Seems like a nice trade.” He billowed a mirthful laugh at his own comment.

“Hey, everyone.” Mona exhaustingly said, running up with a large sheaf of papers tucked under an arm. She was followed close behind by Paya, who looked troubled by something. “Are you ready, Link? Prince Sidon?” The two nodded.

“Mona, please let me come with you.” Paya said, nervously, with a bit of fear in her voice. The scholar sternly, yet politely shook her head.

“No, Paya. I told you, I don’t want you getting hurt down there.” The Shiekah girl balled her hands that were usually hidden by her flowing robes into fists. 

“I don’t want you getting hurt, either! You have to let me come with you!” Everyone fell silent. Link had never heard Paya speak so loudly, and was reminded at how bothered she was at Sidon going out foolishly by himself during the Lizalfos attack on the Zora domain. 

“Mona. Let her come along. With her help, we’ll make sure _no one_ gets hurt.” Sidon said softly. Mona's frown stretched further with worry, and she gripped her papers in her hands at her powerlessness over the situation.

"Okay. I don't want you to think I don't want you with me, Paya, because I do. I feel like a jerk." 

The Sheikah girl put a hand on her shoulder, her puffy white hair flowing in the warm midday breeze.

"You're not a jerk. I'm really glad you care so much. Other than my grandmother, I- I can't say I'm used to that." Their concern for each other made Link's heart swell. It was so sweet to her, and it just made her want to hug Sidon. As if the prince was thinking the same thing, she felt him give her a loving squeeze on the shoulder, and she looked up to see him shyly lock eyes with the girl. 

"Don't die down there, Link!" Hana squeaked, and Link chuckled at her innocent tone paired with such a jarring sentiment.

"I promise I won't!" The four began trekking down the steps, the dirt and upturned grass that flooded in when it surfaced was covering a small portion of their otherwise immaculate surfacing. It seemed like they were trekking downward forever, and yet, the room below began to show itself to the four of them. 

The place was vast, and it was almost easier to call it the size of a large warehouse -- a gratuitous expanse that was supported by gigantic beams linking from the ceiling to the floor near the walls covered in blue circuitry and occasional panels. This place was more traditionally Shiekah, the tell-tale eye that served as the symbol for their people was carefully sewn into square cloth banners that lined the walls every twenty feet or so. 

The breeze that followed them in danced freely in the room, fluttering around the silky banners for the first time in upwards of ten thousand years.

“Woah...This isn’t a temple--” Mona gasped, flipping through her notes. “--this is too big to be a temple, but I can't think of what else to call it. Why is there _nothing_ in here?” Link couldn’t help but ask herself the same thing. The place was absolutely vast and empty, like the more flat areas of Hyrule fields.

"D...didn't the Sheikah who made all of this stuff just disappear?" Paya asked, and Sidon made an unsure hum through his gills. 

"Mm, no one knows, but you'd think there'd be signs of their departure, or their lives, or even a sign of their struggle if they were taken by force." Sidon said the latter half of that sentence more gravely.

"I wonder if this room is...sentient, too." The scholar mused, and she drew in a large breath. " _Hello?... If you can understand me, please, give us a sign?"_ Everyone waited nervously, holding their breaths, listening to the bouncing echo of her nervous voice reverberate off the walls. Link felt a chill rattle her bones, that creeping feeling of being watched in the mysterious room nagged at the back of her mind. _It's too quiet. It's way too quiet._

Nothing. Silence. Not even a hum, or a chipper honk, like Vah Ruta is known to do. The deafening silence was cut by Mona's speaking voice, startling everyone a small amount.

"Let's look around." 

The comforting red carpet that lay stretched in a straight line across the middle of the room was a welcome change from the sandpapery ground of the shrine that Link and Sidon had been in earlier that same day, and its existence only served to make her wonder how significant this room used to be to the Shiekah people.

"What's that?" Paya nervously asked, pointing to a glowing console tucked away neatly in a crevice in one of the large beams that lined the walls.

"A console." Link said nervously. She expected one to be somewhere, but it didn't make the feeling any less dreadful. She knew that the Shiekah were good people, making the Divine Beasts and the guardians to aid in the abatement of Ganon's victory, that much was clear, yet she couldn't shake the strange fact that her essence has been identified by the ancient mind. What are it's intentions? What does it plan to do with such intrusive knowledge?

"Link?" Link perked up at Sidon's worried voice. "Are you alright, my love?" She grabbed his hand, noting his surprised confused grunt, and interlocked her fingers with his.

"Ah, I'm nervous." She spoke as they walked toward the console, her slate beginning to vibrate as they approached.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, okay? I swear it." Her heart fluttered as he gently squeezed her palm, knowing that he'd more than happily risk his life to save her was so bittersweet. As interesting as this all was to her, and as wonderful it has been to help the people of Hyrule, in that moment, Link could only think of wanting to be alone with Sidon, feeling his arms hold her close to his warm body. It was thinking of this comforting feeling that drove her hand to set the Shiekah slate down on the console.

The slate clicked against the mechanism, and went through its general flashing images of schematics, old scanned documents, lines of text.

" _Woah, what are those screens? What is it doing?"_ Mona asked, slack jawed in shock as it continued to buzz against the console. She quickly began scribbling away in her papers.

"Text, blueprints, I can't catch a word of it. What _is_ that dialect? It looks so alien." 

Sidon was seen studying along with her, just as interested in what the slate was going to do, and it relaxed against the console. The four huddled around the black screen, peppered against it was white, blocky text.

_Builder status = null_

_Interlopers = null_

_Threat level = null_

_Inquisitor status = null_

_Holder detected._

_Previous encounter compiled._

_Main hub handshake complete._

_Holder 1 status = alive_

_Holder 2 status = alive_

_Holder 3 status = alive_

_Upon completion of final taming, ensure this room is vacated._

"Alive?... How could all three triforce holders be alive?" Paya sheepishly asked.

"If I was going to trust someone who told me that, it would be the Shiekah, but even that is a stretch." Sidon said, rubbing his chin curiously.

"It's just...Zelda died in the calamity. Grandmother said the princess ran into the castle with a small brigade in a final effort to stop Ganon, and that was the last anyone ever saw of her." Link's heart sank, and a cold chill flooded her body from head to toe. Mona's lips pressed together in a contemplative look of frustration. 

"Hmm..." The scholar huffed, giving a side glance to Link. 

"I'm still the age I was when I was put into stasis. Maybe they did the same thing with her...somehow." Link added. That notion decompressed some of the rising tension in the room, giving less credence to any more abstract theories that were most likely piling up in everyone's minds.

"Yeah...I'm not sure how they came up with stopping the aging process, but you're walking evidence that they did. Sure--" Mona sighed, looking the console up and down "--that's what I'll count on, something that optimistic is what we all have to count on, right?" Sidon nudged against Link's shoulder. 

"Zelda would be someone who can spearhead the restoration of Hyrule. If we ended up saving her, she'd officially be the queen of the realm." Mona huffed at that.

"I don't even know what anyone would do with the castle if no one from her lineage was alive."

Link chuckled.

"Fix it up and let Lady Impa have it." Paya cracked up laughing, and Mona nodded fondly.

"Oh, that woman deserves the world. She is so sweet." The scholar tucked her papers back under her arm. "Well, if I want to take any more notes on this place, I shouldn't have to do it on an empty stomach. Um...does anyone wanna get a bite to eat? " A unanimous hum of affirmation came out of everyone, and they started back towards the surface.

"Should we let anyone down here? The message said to make sure no one is inside once the last taming. I'm going to assume it means Vah Medoh." Sidon asked, the upward climb was shortening his breath, and Link was making sure not to sprint up the stairs ahead of him by accident. 

"I think it'd be okay. Once I see that you've tamed Medoh, I'll make sure everyone is out." 

Link was more than happy to escape the suffocating air of the ancient chasm, the neon circuitry of the staircases walls casting a blue light over the crowd of Kakariko villagers in the blackened night, still standing and murmuring to each other worriedly.

"It's safe for now, everyone!" Mona spoke over the chittering insects that flew curiously around the glowing walls of the staircase. "It will need to be vacated at some point soon, because for some reason, that room told us to make sure it's empty by the time Medoh is tamed, but if you want to have a look, it's there!"

"Wuh- what is it?" Renno asked nervously, and the curious crowd fell silent to hear her answer.

"I'm glad you asked!" She cleared her throat loudly. "I have no idea." Paya smiled and stifled a giggle. "An empty room, a temple, a storage space, I have _no_ idea. Just don't move anything too big down there, you'll have to bring it back up just as quickly."

"Do you think you could do your classes down there?" Paya asked, and the scholars eyes lit up in agreement. Link nearly forgot that Mona was in Kakariko for the sole purpose of educating, she seemed so happy and comfortable in the village that it seemed like she's lived there her whole life.

"Ooh, I like that idea. Literally surrounding the class in history, even if I'm not familiar with said history. Thanks for bein' my brains, Paya!" Paya gave out a shy, nervous squeak.

Standing so close to him, Link heard the prince's stomach gurgle, and looked up to see his blushing blue and green face.

"You okay, hungry prince?" He smiled bashfully, and brought himself down to one knee in their moment of respite from their hectic day to meet her eye to eye.

"I'm famished--" Sidon gave the girl a sweet kiss on the cheek. "--But I'll survive a few more minutes." His sleepy, tooth bearing grin melted Link's heart. She shook her head fervently. 

"Nope, your belly has spoken, Sidon. You can’t argue with royalty.” He chuckled, grabbing her palm in the crowd of people, and giving the back of her hand a careful kiss.

“Do you like being as adorable as you are, Link?” The Hylian blushed feverishly, Sidon’s flattery never ceased to make her pulse quicken. It seemed he was a natural at many things, and being charming was absolutely one of his most impressive talents. 

“ _Link!”_ Hana yelled, quickly hopping up to the surprised Hylian’s side. Sidon pulled his hand from hers, his glowing yellow eyes trained on Link’s friend. “What was down there?! Did you get hurt?” Link smiled, holding up an affirming hand. 

“Nope! Everyone’s fine, but we still don’t know what the place is for!” She looked at the Hylian, her face aghast. “We’ll know soon. Once we kill Ganon, something will happen to the place.”

“What? _Something_? It didn’t even tell you?!” Link shrugged cluelessly. “That’s creepy!”

“Just a little bit creepy, but we’ve probably seen weirder.” Hana picked at one of the bandages on her hand with a fingernail.

“How long have you been travelling with Link, prince…” The Zora prince chuckled.

“Sidon. I’m Prince Sidon, it's a pleasure to properly meet you, Hana." He held out a hand, and she shook it to the best of her ability. "Well, she arrived in the domain, what, almost a few weeks ago?” Link nodded.

"You've barely left my side since, Sidon." The prince smiled playfully.

"Oh, come, you make me sound obsessive!"

"Of course not --" Link looked over to Hana. "--He did nothing but take care of me when I was hurt, and I think I made it pretty obvious how often I wanted him near me." Hana made a worried, sad glare at the Hylian, and spoke in an uncharacteristically quiet tone.

"Hurt? What happened?"

"I got cut pretty bad by a Lizalfos. I collapsed in front of the domain, but the prince carried me to the infirmary. Not the first time he's saved my life." She felt as his strong hand squeezed her lovingly.

"Woah, Link. How bad is your scar?" Link furrowed.

"Ah, It's...it's not pretty." Hana pulled up a sleeve on her small robe, revealing a long, nasty looking stitched up scar from the skin between her thumb and index finger, to halfway up her forearm.

"I've got some too! It's no big deal, Link!" Link winced at the sight.

"How did you get that?" The Hylian nervously asked, seeing such a nasty cut on someone so young felt so jarring to her, it looked serious, and relatively recent.

"About a day after you left, I started learning how to work with metal. A week ago I got a little... _too_ carried away trying to whittle with a knife I had made, and got it pretty bad." Hana seemed so nonchalant about her wound, sliding the sleeve back down and smiling widely.

"I don't think it's not pretty. I don't think it is, either, it's just a part of me. I think I needed to get this scar, because if I didn't, I wouldn't be me. I know im goofy, and make mistakes, that's okay with me, I can take what cuts I get along the way, and they'll all be a part of who I am!" Link was hit by the existentialism of the young girls comment like a lynel ramming against her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs.

Link pulled up her shirt slightly, showing the valley of a scar that cast a tiny shadow on her stomach in the starlight.

"See? It's not ugly!" Hana stated, in a matter-of-fact tone. Link looked up, seeing Sidon viewing it as well, and she somehow didn't feel worried that he would be disgusted by her. She was surprised by his loving, velvety tone as he spoke quietly, juxtaposing with Hana's mousy voice.

"I look at that, and I can only think of how you got that scar because you felt Hyrule deserves better than what it has, and it's beautiful." Link was speechless, the overwhelming support was bringing her near tears. 

"You two are so _cute!_ " Hana chriped. "OH, I have stuff I need to give you!"

"We'll actually be staying here overnight, so could you give it to me tomorrow? I think everyone wants to get food." Hana pouted for a moment, and then nodded understandingly.

"Mhm! I'll be around! If im not by the wok, I'll be in the workshop! It’s right next to the pumpkin patch in the middle of the village." Link felt Sidon stand, and looked to see Mona and Paya approaching from the dispersing crowd. 

“Everyone’s caught up! Well, as much as we can catch them up on. Let’s go get sushi, please.”

“Whaaat’s sushi?” Link asked, and the whole group seemed to want to give an answer at the same time as they walked to the middle of Kakariko proper, and Sidon spoke.

“A common Shiekah dish. It’s fish, or crab, wrapped in rice wrapped in seaweed. We have a large book on how to prepare it back at the domain, yet we’ve never had the chance to go near the ocean to get seaweed to replicate it, or vinegar to prepare the rice. I’m quite excited to try some!”

“Ugh, Prince Sidon, I had some for the first time two days ago? I nearly cried. It’s like _perfect_ Zora food.”

The prince chuckled, a small shop tucked between two buildings lit up much more brightly than the surrounding homes came into view. The cozy bar was lit by low hanging paper lanterns near each table, and traditional Shiekah decor. One would call it minimalistic, the tables and chairs were sleek and simple, and the windows were lined neatly with waxy paper that was so common to all of the village’s buildings. Link watched as Sidon took their surroundings in. 

“Look at this interior. Again, seeing these things illustrated is so much different from the real thing.” 

“You three should go sit, I’m gonna get all of the food they have.” Paya chuckled at the girl, and Link was feeling so hungry that she wouldn’t actually protest to such a challenge.

The three sat comfortably at a wooden table, and Link scooted close to Sidon, enjoying the feeling of sitting after so long of walking around the chasmic temple that lay underneath the village.

Paya rested her head against her hand on the table, slumping lazily in her chair.

“You alright, Paya?” Link asked, and She sleepily nodded.

“I don’t usually do this much.” She said sheepishly, exuding a stressful sigh. “I’m usually helping grandmother, or studying. B-but, since Mona has been in the village, I’ve been helping her where I can, too. We haven’t seen so much change in Kakariko for so long, it’s all very noisy to me, but I like it.”

“Noisy?” Link asked. 

“Busy. The neighbors talk more often, the construction workers have been building much more quickly, they’ve barely stopped in the past few days. I guess you could say morale is at a high point.”

“I appreciate you helping Mona out where you can. She seems to like you quite a bit, Paya.” Sidon stated, and Link couldn’t help but think of how quiet, and much more timid Paya used to be. The girl still spoke with a shy squeak comparable to a sleepy keese, and her voice still stuttered at times, yet she didn’t slink into herself as much as she did before, her body language was more relaxed.

“Thank you, Prince. I really enjoy watching Mona teach, I listen in on all of her classes.” She sat up a little bit more, pulling up her sleeves a bit. “And also, thank you for sticking up for me earlier. I know Mona wanted me to be safe, but I just didn’t want to see her go in without me.”

“Ah, it’s something I believe I understand myself. Being out of control of someone's safety to whom you hold dear is absolutely horrid.” Link saw Payas cheeks grow slightly red, and she felt a familiar inkling, a vague sense of deja vu at how she reacted to Sidon’s comforting words. 

“You have a crush on her, don’t you, Paya?” Link inquired, and the Shiekah girl made a nervous squeak, falling into herself and hiding her blushing face. 

“ _No! I..._ I don’t know.” Link frowned.

“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, I’m sorry.” Paya shook her head, and buried the rest of her face behind her sleeve.

“You didn’t. I’ve just never really felt this way. About anyone. I really don’t know what I’m doing.” Link furrowed, thinking of how Link acted around Sidon when she had first met him.

“You’ll know, Paya. It will come to you, I promise.” Sidon said quietly, watching as Mona walked over, a gigantic wooden board in her arms. Mona carefully set the board down on the table, and it was revealed to be covered in different types of sushi rolls. 

“It is so crazy watching them make these, it’s like an _art form_.” She sat down next to Paya, and caught her breath through her gills. 

“I think that’s safe to say, these are definitely pleasing to the eye.” 

“Take any one of them that looks good, Prince Sidon, I’ll tell you what it is when you grab it.” He pulled a piece from a long roll, one of many that laid on the board. “That’s a Hylian Seabass roll!” He gave it a quick look and popped it into his mouth. He tried his best to keep his composure, as it was apparent to Link that Mona’s talk of sushi being perfect ‘Zora food’ seemed to hold true.

“Oh my- Link, try one. You must.” He held up one that had black sesame seeds covering it. 

“Thaaaat is...an Akkalian tuna roll? Don’t hold me to that, I have a terrible memory!” The scholar said innocently, and Sidon held it out for Link. She made eye contact as she took it with her mouth from his fingers, feeling her cheeks heat up as she did so. Sidon looked wildly amused and surprised at her, and blushed in response.

“I didn’t mean for you to eat it from my hand, Link!” He chuckled, and her face grew even redder in embarrassment.

“I thought you were! Why else would you hold it out for me!?”

“I was trying to be courteous and hand you a piece! I suppose you _did_ take it, so I can’t be too surprised.” She blushed and gave him a playful slap as he gave her a sly smile. 

“Here, Paya.” Mona said, holding out a carefully crafted miniature bed of rice, and laying atop of it was a clean and reddish pink section of salmon. “You said stamoka salmon nigiri was your favorite, right?” Paya’s face lit up like a light, and she nervously shifted in her seat.

“Y...yeah, I did...Are you saying you want me to…?” Mona looked at her confusedly, and cocked her head. “You um...want me to eat it out of your hand?” Mona's cheeks flushed a bright cyan.

“Oh, no! I...it’s because the nigiri is on my side of the table, see?” She gestured to the left of her, a small group of neatly made nigiri was stacked next to each other. “I just didn’t want you to have to reach so far, goofy girl.” Paya anxiously grabbed the nigiri, slowly slid it into her mouth, and quietly, nervously chewed. Mona chuckled, studying her deadpan expression, she looked as if she’d just seen a ghost. “You gonna be okay after that one?” Paya nodded succinctly.

“YeahI’llbefine.” She squeaked, gesturing for another piece of food, to which the scholar obliged.

“So, what do you two plan to do, hm? Once this is all over.” Mona asked curiously, and Sidon and Link gave each other unsure looks.

“We’ve talked briefly of it, and--” Sidon surveyed the room around them, and decreased his voice to a near-whisper, “--I think if Zelda really _is_ alive, then we may have more options than we thought, honestly. What an honor it would be to help rebuild the Hyrule Castle, or it’s nearby towns, especially with Link’s possession of magnesis, but also it seems that most places are in dire straits.” He watched as Link tried to drop a piece of sushi in her mouth, and tragically groaned as it rolled off of her face and onto the floor. “Has no one taught you to eat properly, you little Bokoblin?” She giggled, shaking her head no, picking up a fresh piece and taking it all in one bite. “Especially with Ruta, being able to move large non-metallic objects would be a nice help, too. What about you, Mona? What do you plan to do once your assistance here is no longer needed?” She rolled her eyes in thought.

“I know this is all very fast, but I think I want to dedicate my time here. Seeing that temple made me realize how important it is that people _know_ what they were for. We could be so much more advanced with that kind of technology.” 

“A noble effort, I’m sure the elder scholars at the domain would agree. You know there are more temples than just the one here, yes?” She nodded.

“I know, but I’m no fighter.” Link swallowed a particularly large piece of sushi.

“Bokoblins and Lizalfos aren’t going to be a problem after Ganon is gone, the only thing you’d have to worry about is...I don’t know, angry boars? ” Mona chuckled.

“Hmm, that’s true. I think I just find Kakariko very comforting. Maybe one day I’ll want to leave for those temples once I have more answers under my belt, but this place, it feels like home to me.” 

“I practice kendo.” Everyone moved their gazes to Paya, who spoke quietly behind her sleeve. “I could make sure you don’t get hurt, if you ever want to go see the temples.”

“Yeah? You’d wanna be stuck with me for that long?” She nodded.

“I wouldn’t mind.” Mona laughed, nudging her friend with a shoulder. 

“I’ll think about it, okay? It does sound like fun with you around.” 

“Okay.” She spoke, timidly. 

“Is martial artistry common in Kakariko, Paya?” Sidon asked curiously.

“Not at the moment. We have our elders who like to spar from time to time, but I think most of the residents started learning how to do more construction and farming work because there isn’t a royal family to protect.”

“So what made you wish to take up arms? Just a hobby?” She shrugged. 

“I would say it’s because im preparing to become the next elder of the village, but I do like to fight.” Link couldn't help but feel confused at this, as fighting completely went against her quiet and passive demeanor. “No one else my age does it, so it’s hard to know if im any good or not.”

“We could spar, Paya.” Link said, and Paya’s eyes lit up at the idea. 

“Really? We have wooden swords for training that no one’s used for ages save for myself.” Mona smiled brightly.

“I’d love to see you two spar. I didn’t even really know you fought, Paya. I thought those wooden swords in your room were just for decoration.” Paya blushed, hiding behind her sleeve again.

“I don’t usually talk about it with anyone but my grandmother, but she used to be the King’s bodyguard. When I was small, she used to train me every now and then. Now she'll occasionally tell me how my form is from the comfort of her pillow.” Everyone seemed to gasp at that unbelievably. 

“Are we talking about Lady Impa, here?” The scholar said, and Paya nodded knowingly. 

“She doesn’t speak of it much at all, and it’s not written anywhere due to how confidential the information had to be kept, but yes, she was a fearsome warrior in her day.”

“What a mental image that produces.” Sidon mumbled to himself, chuckling quietly.

Link suddenly felt a wave of recollection, another memory peeking from the horizon of her consciousness like the rising sun. Unlike most memories that threaten to replay themselves for her in her head, she found no fear in embracing this one, yet it still made her head pound painfully, and she held onto her chair in an attempt to tether herself to reality.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

“So, it wasn’t until I noticed his bouts of illness that I wrongly assumed that he was being poisoned by Gretan, one of his handmaidens. I nearly choked the woman if it weren’t for Rhoam telling me that everyone else was getting sick too. It’s almost as if people get hay fever, and I forget allergies exist.” Link watched as the muscular Shiekah woman rolled her eyes at herself in frustration and pulled her tightly affixed veil off of her face to take a generous gulp of sake from a white ceramic shot glass. 

She almost looked like Paya, yet her hair was done in very tightly tied braids behind her head, and she looked marginally more stressed. She wore a skin tight purple garment, one that had leather shoulder straps and knee pads, little pockets that held small, circular shaped objects, and simple wooden sandals that were fastened to her feet by lengths of cloth. 

“Anyway, that’s how I almost got my head cut off by the Royal family because of the spring season. Quite a foolish way to go, hm? My mother would find me in the next life and beat me beyond death if that had happened.” She slid her veil back over her face, setting the shot glass next to a large, white sake bottle, relaxing back on her hands on a floor pillow, sitting in the minimalist room that Impa called her home. The room was messy, as much as messy could get for the usually tidy Shiekah people, several forgotten dirty plates set aside haphazardly, and modest piles of clothes laid in the corners of the room.

“Sorry, I know I get talkative. I get that way when I'm not constantly doing something.” 

Link waved his hand forgivingly, taking a sip from his black tea. “You’re a good listener, anyone ever tell you that?” Link felt uncomfortable as she waited for an answer, probably fully knowing he wouldn’t give one, and she laughed abruptly at his expense. “I kid, I kid. I do very much enjoy your company, though.” She casually poured another shot of clear rice wine, and pulled her veil down once more. “The scholars tell of Ganon’s return more and more, I cannot tell you how much worry that brings me. Pah, as if the stars above could be so prophetic.” 

She downed the shot, and sighed heavily as she practically slammed it against the bamboo flooring. “What makes them so sure? Hm?” She narrowed her eyes at the Hylian. 

“Have you noticed any strange happenings as of late? Things one could call ‘omens’? Barring the excavation of what the elders are calling the ‘divine beasts’, merely trinkets from the ground, nothing more.”

Link slowly shook his head, trying to recall anything that fit the descriptor. 

“I thought not. No three eyed crows, no strange weather patterns, no small animals raining down from the sky. Yet, I’ll reserve my skepticism for you. How your sensitive Hylian ears do not tire of my drivel, I’ll never know.” 

She cleared her throat, her cheeks flushed red, moving along with her woozy body.

“I’ll never understand why they dragged those things out of the ground, we could have used that manpower to improve our trade routes.” She shook her head, and huffed a dizzy sigh. “Ah, I’m nearly too drunk to hold myself up any longer. I take it you’ll be at the castle come next Monday, we can catch up there. I’ll give your listening ears the time to recover, hm?” She laughed at herself, nearly falling back onto the floor.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Link opened her eyes, looking around at everyone’s confused faces. 

“What happened, Link? Are you okay?” Sidon asked worriedly, as Link’s head began to clear from the pounding it had experienced just moments prior. 

“Yeah, I just...remembered Impa before the calamity. I was sitting and listening to her talk.” Paya shot up, confusedly. 

“You remember her?” She looked at Link eagerly, waiting for her to continue. Link nodded, amazed.

“She looked just like you, Paya. Except she drank a lot of sake and had bags under her eyes.” Paya’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she chuckled loudly.

“I can’t imagine Lady Impa drunk. As much as I try, it just doesn’t fit in my head.” Mona said.

“She didn’t like the Divine beasts. In all honesty, she seemed pretty bitter about them. She told me about how scholars using techniques to predict Ganon’s return were foolish.” Paya knit her brows sadly, frowning and staring blankly at the thought.

“She was the backbone of security for the king for a good while, as was her mother before her. Maybe she just…didn’t want her duty taken away from her.” Link frowned along with her, noting how Paya wasn’t hiding behind her sleeve anymore, she just seemed too out of sorts to hide her face.

“She was definitely intimidating.” Paya looked at Link, and smirked a bit.

“What do you mean?” Link balled her hands into fists. 

“She was really buff! She was wearing a dark purple bodysuit, and she had big muscles!" Everyone gave unbelieving chuckles.

"That's so wild, I couldn't imagine Lady Impa as anything but a borderline deity of sweetness." Mona said, before popping one of the few remaining pieces of sushi into her mouth.

"She was a bit more strict when I was young, but nothing like what you're describing. She was more of a mentor to me back then. A parent." 

"I have to say, she did a pretty good job at raising you." Mona said sweetly, getting a bright red blush out of the Shiekah girl. "Well, I should probably head to bed, I've got early classes to teach." Mona said, stretching in her chair, and moving to get up.

"Today has been quite the eventful day, hasn't it?" Link looked up at the prince, noting his sleepy eyes. 

"Yeah. It has." She said warmly. "We're sparring tomorrow morning, okay Paya?" The sleepy Shiekah girl's eyes lit up again.

"Yeah! You know where I'll be!" Everyone shared a quick goodbye, and parted ways from the comforting restaurant in sleepy Kakariko village. 

Link and Sidon walked in near silence to Vah Ruta, listening to the sunset fireflies and restless crickets chitter amongst themselves. 

"Thank you so much for everything today, Sidon. I'm so glad you got to meet everyone." She could see his lips curl into a tired smile.

"Such a lovely bunch of people, Link. I really do love it here. This culture shock _should_ be overwhelming in a way, but it's so very nice, especially since I get to be alongside you." Link felt her heartstrings plucked lovingly by his soothing words, words spoken gently enough to calm a raging storm.

"I...I feel the same way, prince." 

He placed a hand on Vah Ruta, leaning and waiting for the inevitable _thump_ of the staircase falling into the dirt, and gestured for her to go up before him.

"Ladies first, my love." She shyly trotted up the stairs, feeling embarrassed to be the subject of such flattery. She put her crossbow down near the door, and began getting ready for bed behind the console. As she undressed, applied her treatment, and put on a more comfortable set of clothing, she heard Sidon set his metal adornments on the dresser near their bed, and lay down in their lumpy mattress. She emerged from the console, wearing her leggings and white, loose fitting short sleeved shirt, and she could see the prince set his hand on the wall behind him, making the lights _just_ a bit brighter so he could look her body up and down.

"Ah; you are simply beautiful." She blushed, hiding behind her hair as she crawled in bed beside him. "I've been waiting all day to-" He was cut short by Link's lips pressing up against his, as she felt more than eager to taste her boyfriend's kiss after waiting for what felt like an entire day. She felt him place a hand on her hip, and squeeze her as he uncontrollably grunted. He pulled away, studying her most likely wild, yet sleepy eyes.

"Oh, Link, I've been waiting all day for that." Link's heart sung through each beat of her quickening pulse as she felt him pull her to kiss her again, and the way he nearly dug his nails into her back excited her in ways she could have never predicted.

The two pulled apart from one another, and Link couldn’t help but feel horrible at how exhausted the prince looked. She felt as though they’ve never done this much in one day together, and Sidon’s expression proved that.

“You look so tired, Sidon.” He chuckled, pressing a hand to the back of the wall to dim the lights, and flicked Link’s little luminous stone necklace. 

“I am. I’ve bared witness to beyond-ancient caverns and have gotten over being horribly sick, all while meeting people from a village I’ve never even imagined could be so markedly different from my own.” He carefully took her chin between his thumb and index finger, and looked her deeply in the eyes. “But, even if im nearly asleep, I need just a few minutes to hold you in my arms, that’s where I want every day to end.” She watched the man of her dreams say such loving words, and felt her chest resonate with how much they meant to her.

“A-ah, me too, Sidon.” She pulled herself to rest her head between in between his arm and his chest. 

“Whenever I’m feeling really nervous about something, I think of being in your arms.” He smiled warmly, and spoke in a buttery, quiet tone.

“Is that so?” He chuckled sleepily, his eyes half open in content, running a thumb on her shoulder as he held her close. “I have to say that if I’m ever too anxious, or afraid in any regard, I know that just thinking of the smell of your hair can calm me.”

“What do I smell like?” He thought for a moment, and took a deep breath from her hair.

“You smell like... _ah,_ how hard that smell is to explain. It reminds me of when the rain cleared over the domain, or like the forest near Hateno.” 

“You smell like fruit. And smoke.” He chuckled, and met his eyes to hers.

“Is that a bad thing?” She shook her head no, and gripped onto him tightly.

“No! When you carried me back to the hobby room and covered me in your blanket, It felt so nice, it felt like you were holding me.” 

“Oh, my love, that night was so horrifying, I absolutely would have at your request. You nearly froze to death.” Her face flushed, and she hid under his arm. “Speaking of absolutely saving my life with your skill in battle, you’re really going to spar with Paya tomorrow? With your kind of fighting expertise?” She re-emerged, cocking her head.

“Yeah, I think it’ll be fun!” He furrowed.

“Are you certain? You used to be Princess Zelda’s bodyguard, the highest honor above all honors in her fleet.” Link yawned. 

“I can go easy, but...knowing what Lady Impa used to look like, Paya might be tougher than I thought.” Sidon chuckled, and his eyes grew heavier.

“You could be right. Perhaps I'm overthinking, hm?” Link nuzzled her body against her boyfriend, and felt as he ran his fingers through her hair, bringing her quickly into the loving embrace of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really have enjoyed playing around with what Paya could also be in terms of character, kind of like what I did with Vilia. I think she deserves a voice. While I really don't plan on erasing her anxiety outright, I feel like she might open up if surrounded by the right people. 
> 
> I love you all, thank you for reading.


	22. Probably cause she thought you were a hottie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Sidon chapter! In which Sidon loses sleep, talks to a twelve year old savant smith, and recounts meeting Link for the first time!

Sidon placed a hand behind him, making the pitch black room glow a dim blue. It still looked dark outside, yet he could hear the faint chirping of birds from outside of Vah Ruta. 

_ How well can we function on five hours of sleep today, Sidon? Let's find out, yes? _

He looked over at Link, her arms were completely wrapped around his left arm, and her legs were sprawled over his, still completely asleep and softly snoring.

_ Goddess, how beautiful she is. You're such a precious sunflower, Link. I love you.  _

Sidon gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead, which only made her stir and smile slightly in her sleep.

He laid there for what felt like hours, his legs growing restless in the position he was in, and he felt his head fin begin to ache. 

He slowly tried to pull his arm up from out of her grasp, and watched as her sleeping expression scrunched up in sorrow from losing the princes warmth. His heart broke as she pulled their blankets over her body to supplement his embrace, but it didn't seem to be enough, as she tossed and turned for a moment, before falling asleep in a less-than-comfortable position. He slowly slid out of bed, careful not to disturb her anymore than he felt he already had. 

He felt the need to go on a walk, a small stroll around the village before the it's people awoke to fully take Kakariko's splendor in his scope. While Hateno had it’s fair share of history, Kakariko was a different beast, being more culturally specific and distinct in comparison to the melting pot of culture that Hateno had to offer. He fastened his armor to his body, and stepped out into the misty morning atmosphere. The dewy, cool air felt nice against his gills, a dark blue sky was quickly giving way to brighter, somewhat orangish hues, and the rooftops of Kakariko's homes glistened in the dim morning light as he calmly strolled to the middle of Kakariko proper. 

Closed signs were hung over the few shops in the village, the pumpkin patch lay empty, a pair of lovingly cared for rocking chairs in front of a small house sit unmoving and unoccupied, but in this peaceful silence Sidon could smell fire, even faintly see shadows dance soundlessly from around a corner. Next to a tree, sitting on a small stump was the little Shiekah girl Link introduced him to, nearly half asleep near the fire. He carefully approached, not completely sure if she was even awake or not. 

"Hello-" He was cut off by her making a loud "EEP" and startling in her seat. 

"Woah _!--"  _ She yell-whispered, careful to not wake the sleeping village, "-You're so tall! Oh, you're Link's boyfriend! You scared me!" He held out a nervous, apologetic hand.

"Ah, I'm so very sorry, I did not mean to startle you." She huffed, and gestured for him to sit. 

"Why are you up so early? Do Zora's not need much sleep or something?" He smiled.

"Ah, no, I assure you, we need as much as any Shiekah, Hylian, Goron, or Rito, yet, I suppose my body felt I needed no more than five hours or so on this particular night, however." She quirked an eyebrow. On second glance it appeared she was putting finer intricacies in a collection of sleek wooden bolts with a very small knife.

"Do you normally stay up this late?" Sidon asked, and Hana scoffed.

"I didn't stay up all night, I slept too! I just can't sleep for more than four hours at a time."

"Any particular reason why?" She shook her head.

"Nope! I'm always thinking about working on something, and if im not doing that, I'm actually working on something. Could you throw that log into the fire?" She pointed at a half split chunk of dry, splintered wood, and Sidon set it in the crackling heart of the makeshift furnace. The prince leaned forward, enjoying the warmth of the fire, and enjoyed a moment of silence before speaking up.

"You made those bolts?" He held out a curious finger, pointing at a crudely patched together leather pouch by her feet, that bulged with identical steel bolts with gleaming tips.

"Mhm!" She picked up the bag, and handed them over to Sidon. "I told Link I would make them for her. They're the most fun I've ever had with a project!" Sidon pulled a bolt out of the bag, studying it. It was as if it were made for Link's crossbow, beautifully intricate and unnecessarily detailed, but its stunning appearance was contrasted nicely against the terrifyingly sharp tips each of the gleaming arrowheads held against their shafts.

"These are simply divine!" He looked to the small girl, who was focusing deeply on another bolt in her lap.

"Thank you, my dad doesn't think I should be wasting time with smithing weapons, so I don’t get much praise for it."

Sidon stared at his reflection in an arrowhead, his face bending and contorting like a funhouse mirror with the finely molded curvature of their aerodynamic tips.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me. Your culture is considered to be pacifist by nature, yes?" She shrugged flatly.

"Iunno. When Link showed me her crossbow, I just wanted to make stuff that would help her fight." Sidon frowned.

"Hana, I'm definitely not your father, but I'm aware of how comforting creating works of art by one's self can be." She looked up from the bolt in her lap, and adjusted her glasses.

"Wha- what do you do?" 

"I knit." She giggled, looking at him as if he had told a bad joke.

"How do you knit with those hands?" She asked in a bubbly, curious tone, and Sidon held up a hand, wiggling his fingers.

"It isn't too bad, I get the occasional prick on the finger, but I'm quite used to it!" He grinned brightly. "What I mean is, I hope that you keep making things like these if they make you happy." He shook the bag of bolts enthusiastically. "The smiths at my own domain would do well to take some pointers from you, you're quite talented!"

Her eyes lit up like diamonds at his praise.

"Nuh-uh!" The prince cracked a large smile, as her response reminded him of how Link reacts so bluntly to some things.

"Yes!--" He held up a hand, "--You have my word, your work is something I wouldn't hesitate to arm my own knights with."

She rocked back and forth excitedly on the tree stump she was sitting on, and tried to keep her excited voice down.

"Aaaaa that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me, thank you!"

“Of course! Come to think of it, I believe Mona has some documentation that the Royal Hylian blacksmiths used when crafting weapons for their infantry, if you wish to take a crack at making what their soldiers used before the Calamity.” Her excitement increased even further, and she struggled to keep her voice down.

“Woah! Yeah! I’ll have to do that!” Sidon’s expression sobered.

“I do believe I should thank you for yesterday, by the way.” She cocked her head.

“Huh? For what?” The prince rocked his jaw.

“Ah, well, Link had never even come close to voluntarily showing me that scar on her stomach. She’d always thought it to be unsightly, but I think you really helped her with what you said.”

Hana met her eyes to his for just a moment, and wore a look of understanding beyond her years. 

“Yeah, Link doesn’t deserve to hate what she looks like, that’s no fair.” She yipped a bit, and recoiled from her bolt she was working on, putting her mouth over her apparently cut finger.

“Are you alright?” Hana looked up at Sidon and nodded, still nursing her wound.

“Hmmph mmm mph mmph!”

“What?” She took her finger out of her mouth, and reached for a roll of medical cloth.

“Happens alllll the time. Man, I  _ just _ got to unbandage this finger, too.” She wrapped her finger hastily, cutting it loose with her whittling knife. “I think it’s unfair for Link to not be proud of those scars.” Sidon nodded.

“I think so too, Hana. I hope she comes to like them, like you do yours.” 

“How did you two meet?” Sidon chuckled nervously, thinking back to carrying the Hylian's lifeless body over his shoulder to get her medical attention.

“I wouldn't consider the first time I saw her to be when I truly  _ met _ her, but I first saw her with that gash on her stomach. Not only was she was attacked by a coup of Lizalfos on her way to our domain, she was also soaked and freezing. All of those factors played into her collapsing in exhaustion near our main scouting station.” Sidon felt strange that he had no qualms with explaining this to a twelve year old, but the way she just plainly reacted to him saying such things put his nerves at ease. “It was the first time someone had actually made it up to our domain since the calamity.”

“Was it  _ that  _ bad?” She asked, and Sidon hummed in the affirmative.

“Yes.” Sidon’s voice grew somber, the volume of his voice softened to meet the popping and crackling fire. “No way in, no way out. A long time ago, before we knew how deadly the trail had become, we lost one too many Zora trying to leave directly after the calamity. We sent them to what is now the Lanyru wetlands, to try and get in contact with the outside world. They never came back, and none of us dared leave after that, afraid of suffering the same fate. Many of us thought for about a decade that no one wanted to come provide aid, but that was incorrect. It was just too dangerous.”

There was a long pause, and the prince shook himself from his lamenting.

“I don’t really know if she liked me at first.” Hana perked up at Sidon’s change in tone.

“Why? Link likes everyone, right?” The prince shook his head, unsure.

“It took her a while to open up to me. It might be because I insisted on staying near her while she recovered. She had just went through so much, and I wanted to make sure she wasn’t feeling unwelcome on top of all of that.”

"Probably cause she thought you were a hottie." Sidon blushed a bit, chuckling.

"Ah, quite an optimistic outlook! Maybe I'll go with that one." 

Hana perked up at something in the distance, and held a desperate hand out toward Sidon. 

“Here she comes, gimme the bag! Gimme gimme!” He handed her the bag of bolts, and turned to see his beloved, walking sleepily over from the less-than-used path to Vah Ruta. Link groaned.

"I woke up and you weren't next to me, prince! I missed you." She wrapped her arms around his neck, and nuzzled her cheek against his.

Her soft fingers felt wonderfully warm against his skin, and he had to struggle to not completely wrap his arms around her and play-wrestle her into his lap.

“Oh, I missed you too, my love. My legs were getting restless, I’m terribly sorry.” He kissed her cheek, speaking in his softest and sweetest tone.

“Good morning, Hana.” Link mumbled. Her eyes drifted to the bag in her lap, and shot open in excitement. “Ah! Are those my new bolts?!” Hana quickly and excitedly nodded. 

“Yeah! I wanna see you shoot one!” Link walked over and graciously took the large bag in her arms. “Absolutely! Here, prince, hold onto the bag, I wanna look at one.” He took the leather bag from her, and handed her one of the many identically cared for bolts. “I’d feel horrible shooting one of these, Hana. They’re too pretty!” 

“Bah! I’ll make you more later! Here!” She pulled a wooden board with a target crudely painted onto it, and set it against a small bale of hay a good five feet from the fire. “Do it! Make that target your prey! Destroy him!" She pointed at it sternly with an adorable, determined look in her eyes. Link gave in, casually stringing back her bowstring, and setting the bolt firmly in the center with mild hesitation. With the flick of the release, the bolt shot out with devastating speed, lodging itself in the thick board of wood in the center, leaving a splintering crack from the middle to the top of the target.

" _ Yesss!!"  _ Hana whisper-yelled, her hands balled into fists of excitement.

_ " _ By the Goddess, you nearly split the thing in half!" Link could only make an unbelieving chuckle at the tenacity with which the board was severed.

"That's definitely a dead bokoblin, or three." She wiggled and pulled the bolt free, and Sidon ogled at how cute her expression was, reacting to the pristine condition the arrowhead still appeared to be in. "It barely got a scratch on it, Hana!"

"I'm really glad you like them!" Link set the bolt down, and in one quick motion, pulled the girl in for a hug.

"I love them. You're the best." The little Shiekah girl squeezed Link as tightly as she could.

"Put one between Ganon's eyes for me, okay?" Link grew quiet, and pulled back from her friend's embrace. 

"I will. Promise.” Sidon could hear a sliding door shut closed from afar, and could see the silhouette of Paya emerge from Impa’s temple, her wooden sandals clacking against the wooden steps gracefully.

“Ah, about time someone wakes up with us!” Sidon mumbled contentedly. Paya set down a large wicker basket of robes near the peaceful pond that Impa’s temple sat upon, and huffed.

“Good morning, Hana. Enjoying our new company?” Paya waved at Sidon and Link, and Hana nodded fervently.

“Yeah! I gave Link her bolts!” Paya met eyes with Link, and smiled.

“How do you like them?” Link simply nodded.

“I love them, they’re a  _ lot _ nicer than my old ones.” Sidon felt a twinge of curiosity. 

“I’m surprised at how well you could put those bolts together, how  _ did  _ you do it?” 

“I just looked at one of Link’s old bolts, and chiseled out what I thought the casts should look like from there.” She definitely seemed to have some sort of special intuition for crafting beyond that of many experienced sculptors or artists Sidon had known in the domain. 

Indeed, he could only recall his sister's expertise with sewing that came close to how picturesque Hana brought her imagination to life. Mipha was considered gifted in the arts when she was alive, scholars and the more religious sects of Nayru worshippers hypothesized that she was blessed with such talents by the three goddesses themselves. 

"You simply just...made these from memory?” The prince asked, and Hana nodded.

“Is that weird?” Sidon shook his head, not wanting to make her feel too unusual, but she was apparently very gifted.

“Certainly not! Uncommon, yes, but you aren’t weird, Hana.” Link and Paya both nodded, and Paya turned, rested her knees to the dewy grass, and began washing the wicker basket of clothes in the clean and clear pond. “Think of it this way, I’ve never seen an arrowhead that can penetrate wood and come out looking ready to be shot again, it just doesn't happen. Considering your age, this is what many people would call a miracle.” Hana looked surprised by this, but quickly rolled her eyes.

“Pfft, that  _ is _ weird, but I’m okay with that. Dad always calls me a weirdo.” Paya paused from fervently scrubbing a soaking, sudsy robe in the pond.

“He didn’t cause you any grief about the bolts, yes?” She asked cautiously in her mousy tone.

“He’s still not happy with it, but he’s glad I'm training myself.” Paya frowned a bit.

“I-I’m glad he’s not barring you from doing it.” The prince saw one of Link’s ears flitter curiously. Sidon didn’t know if she knew that she did this when she wanted to ask something, but it was adorable to the prince.

“Why wouldn’t it be okay, Paya?” Link asked, clutching her new bag of bolts close to her chest, and resting herself up against the prince’s shoulder.

“A few reasons. Shiekah never smithed their own weapons, as they thought it to be an artform done by people who wish to cause pain to others. Shiekah have core beliefs that aren’t necessarily in line with Hylian beliefs, so they made a compromise. The Royal Family would forge their weapons, and ceremonies would be held to bestow those weapons to their bodyguards, and swear that the swords the Shiekah were tasked to use shall be used to protect the family, and that any blood spilled would be on the families hands, not the one’s wielding the weapons.” Sidon never knew this. As interested as he always was in Shiekah culture, this was a tidbit that had either eluded him, or was never written in their records. Paya pulled the now clean robe from the pond, and set it up on a thin clothesline that connected between a tree and a lamp post.

“I knew about how the Royal blacksmiths used to make weapons for Shiekah, but had no idea that it was accompanied by a ceremony, I’ve never even seen that written. Is that ceremony considered secretive?” Paya frowned.

“It is, but there’s no harm. It’s common knowledge around the village.” Sidon felt as though this wasn’t truly the full scope of the answer to his question, and he had a feeling it had to do with the devastation of the calamity. He chose not to press further, feeling as though he was pushing boundaries, so he simply nodded in understanding. The sound of the sliding door shutting closed was heard, and the prince could see Mona coming down the stairs.

Sidon couldn’t help but notice Paya’s reaction, as her body tensed up in apparent nervousness at the scholar’s arrival, and her worry only grew as she walked carefully down the stairs with a satchel slung across her body.

“G’mornin, everyone.” The scholar mumbled sleepily.

“Good morning, Mona.” Paya said timidly.

“Hello, Mona!” Link said in her mid ranged tone, still eyeing her bolts one by one.

“Heyo.” Hana chirped.

“Hello there, Mona.” Sidon said politely.

“I can’t be around long, but I wanna watch you guys spar when I get back from teaching, okay?”

She bit into an apple, and Paya and Link met eyes for a moment. The previous bodyguard of Princess Zelda fighting the granddaughter of a Shiekah elder was still a strange proposition to the prince, as he’d seen the Hylian show such prowess in battle, but as much as he kicked himself for it, he couldn’t see the timid Paya being nearly as ruthless, or even barbaric as Link tended to be when she was pushed beyond her limits.

“Woah wait, Link, you’re gonna fight Paya!?” Link nodded happily at Hana’s amazement, a strangely quaint reaction to such a question.

“I’m gonna spar with her, yeah! We’re not actually gonna beat each other up!” Hana pouted.

“ _ Ugh! _ I wanna watch!” 

“ _ Ugh! _ You can!” Link stated excitedly, but her expression fell as Hana huffed sadly. 

“No, I gotta help dad work on the houses today.” Hana mumbled, sticking her tongue out in defeat. “Just tell me who wins, okay?”

“Okay, but you’ll be missing out on a lot of action!” Link said, setting her new collection of bolts into her raggedy bag.

“I knooow, don’t remind me! I need to wake that oaf up.” Hana reluctantly hopped off of her stump, and began walking to her home near the fire. 

"You'll probably see me this afternoon! I think! If you don't tell me how it goes, I'll be really sad!"

As she left, Sidon noticed a lull in the conversation, a moment of silence where all eyes were off of both him, and his beloved. He casually wrapped an arm around Link’s tummy, and pulled her close to him as Paya and Mona conversed. She was startled at first, but relaxed and leaned against him. Sidon felt her hipbone press against his side, and looked over to see her admiring him, yet she quickly shied her gaze away.

“My pearl.” He said quietly to the Hylian, and could tell he got her attention, as her cheeks lit up brightly. Truly, he found few things brought him greater joy than Link’s flustered reactions when he surprised her with cute names. It was as if her eyes tried their best to focus on anything but him in her shy frenzy, yet like a school of curious fish to a glowing luminous stone, she always kept her eyes on his just a tad longer than everything else, and gave in to his gaze. She pressed her lips against his in a quick kiss. If he didn't know any better, he'd think her to be a goddess, and the feeling of her lips against him to be a blessing. 

“UGH. Yep, that’s cute.” Link and Sidon turned to see Mona eyeing them from a distance, ogling at their cuteness. “It’s weird seeing you kiss anyone, Prince Sidon, but it’s precious! Ah, sorry, I don’t want to seem like one of those fanatics that followed you everywhere in the domain." The prince felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. 

“Aha, nonsense! I’d say it’s strange seeing me anywhere but the archives or the royal hobby room, let alone romantically involved. It must be surprising, I’m sure.” As much as he didn’t look it, the prince had really only experienced reluctant introversion in his years, having few acquaintances, and too few friends for someone who had been alive as long as he had, so anyone from the domain seeing him so intimate with someone must have come as a shock. 

Paya hung up the last of her robes on the clothesline, and set the wicker basket next to the arches of the stairwell that led up to Impa’s shrine.

“I’m ready.” she said happily to Mona, and the two turned to Sidon and Link. 

“Okay, sorry to leave you all, but I have classes to teach! See you all in a few hours!” the two parted, and it seemed as if it was just Sidon and Link, along with the few awake at such early hours in the morning.

“Do you wish to get something to eat?” He softly asked Link, and she nodded.

The restaurant they were at just last night was completely different during the day, as the morning lights filtered blue and yellow sunlight through the paper walls, and the smell of black tea and other assorted caffeinated beverages were wafting invitingly through the air. Usually, Link would sit across from the prince, but the two snugly sat next to each other in a curved wooden booth on the side of the little tea house.

“So I guess we’re staying here another night?” Link asked unceremoniously with a mouthful of rice and fish.

“Wouldn’t hurt to at least talk about Hebra, yes?” The Hylian swallowed, reaching to her belt and showing him northwesternmost part of her slate’s map. There the town was, a vertical affair that scaled a mountainous horn-shaped peak, quite fitting for the airborne Rito race. 

“Hm. Not but a day of relaxing in Vah Ruta to get there, I’m sure. Ruta does make things bafflingly easy in terms of travel, it almost seems unfair to anyone using any other means to get around.”

“It's not like traders don't have horses.” Sidon chuckled, and paused to sip his scalding milky tea.

“Yes, but do they live in their horses? Do their horses shoot  _ lasers? _ ” She giggled.

“I wish they did. That would be so cool.” 

“Why wish? We have a laser shooting house elephant, Link!” Sidon took great pleasure watching her hold her face over her mouth as she tried to hold in her hysterical laughter. 

Every time he heard her little snort laugh, he swore he fell even deeper for her, yet he only wished she wouldn’t hide her smile from him.

“Why wouldn’t they just move away from Medoh if it’s giving them trouble?” Link asked.

“I’m not sure. I do know that that town has been there for longer than a few centuries, and I am aware that the Rito have a history of being a very stubborn people politically, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they live there based on spiteful merit.”

“Woah, they must be cool.” Sidon smiled.

“They descended from Zora!” Link furrowed her brow.

“They  _ what?”  _ The prince chuckled.

“I won’t go  _ too  _ into it, but there was once an ‘age of water’ as described by scholars, where the realm, and a  _ huge  _ area surrounding it was nearly completely submerged in water. The Zora who decided to stay above the water were  _ changed  _ as a result _.  _ They were said to have been blessed with wings by an ancient spirit for their refusal to fall in such a turbulent time.” Her eyes widened.

“So, some god thought they were so tough that it gave them wings?” 

“Mhm! It’s kind of what the Rito base their whole philosophy off of.”

“Why do you know everything, prince?” She smirked at his growing blush.

“I really don’t! You’d be surprised at what isolation and a large collection of books will do to someone, though.” He felt as she leaned her weight against his arm.

“Oh, speaking of Hebra, are you gonna be okay in the cold, Sidon?” She played with the retracted fin that was withdrawn on his arm, normally a very sensitive area for its many nerve endings, yet her fingers were so delicate, it actually felt quite pleasant.

“Mm, yes, I’ll be okay. I’ll complain, but Zora are okay with freezing temperatures. A cloak would be nice, in such weather. Perhaps I can figure something out.” The prince watched as Link curiously played with the bump that held his swimming fin. “Do you like playing with my fin?” She tried not to crack a smile, but failed. 

“This is a fin?” He cocked his head, he could swear she’d seen him use them to swim before.

“Surely you aren't serious. You’ve never?...okay, watch.” He flexed his arm, and the colorful blue and orange fin shot out like a folding fan. Her jaw dropped. “Oh come, you and I swam to tame Vah Ruta, you cannot tell me you didn’t notice them!” She shook her head.

“Nope, I had no idea. I guess I was too focused on fighting. It’s so  _ pretty _ .” She held the thin, but sturdy fin between her thumb and index finger, another odd sensation to the prince, but he was too transfixed, no one had ever touched him there.

“You really think so? My father likes to say the blue of my fins are from him, and my red skin from my mother, and the fight between the two colors truly shows who was the strongest in their marriage.” The moment she took her hand off, he retracted it, which made her jump a bit in her seat.

“So cool.” She said under her breath, making him smile uncontrollably.

“If we ever spar, you may notice that they come out, I can't really control them when im fighting. Sort of like baring my teeth, or a dog raising its hackles.” She giggled.

“You’re too cute to be scary, prince, your fins won’t fool me.” 

“Aha, your honeyed words are too sweet for me, my love. I’d always assumed my fins were strange. I used to be made fun of for the way they would flare out when I was training.”

Prince Sidon found such comfort both in her empathetic expression, and in her calming hand caressing his arm in the packed, yet fairly quiet tea shop.

“Not strange--” She kissed the retracted fin, and rubbed her head against him. “-- beautiful.” His heart leapt to his throat, and he felt it hard to find the words to thank her. While, yes, many Zora had arm fins like his to assist with swimming, the ones he had were considerably more flared, and predatory by design, most likely thanks to his mother's saltwater Zora lineage.

"How prepared are you to go head to head with Paya?" Link knocked back the remainder of her black tea.

"I'm more than ready! Paya seemed so excited at the idea, I think I'll be the first one her age that's going to spar with her. So will I, come to think of it.”

“That you can remember, anyway.” Sidon paused abruptly, biting his tongue in regret. He tended to try not bringing up her past life, as she understandably looked at it with distaste. Knowing this, however, he was very curious as to what she’s seen before the calamity, what she was used to, what she liked and disliked. 

Even if she did remember, who’s to say she wouldn’t keep such a depressing time in her life a secret?

“Hey, prince.” Sidon met eyes with the Hylian, her expression showing worry.

“What’s wrong, my dearest?”

“If Zelda really is alive, does that mean I have to go back to being her bodyguard?” By Hylia, the fear on her face stabbed his heart with burning skewers of guilt. He wanted to tell her no, but he had no power over the Royal Family, or what they choose to decree. He could only hope that Zelda would be merciful.

“I...don’t know, Link.” She shook her head confusedly, and Sidon's spirits fell even further.

“I don’t want to, Sidon. I want to be with you.” The prince felt his mouth grow tacky and dry with worry.

"Link, I will do everything in my power to make sure I stay right by your side. I want to be with you, too." Link's blue eyes, usually so bright and wondrously loving, began to water. 

"Is she gonna make me stop my treatment?" Sidon grabbed her hand, a decisive, attention demanding motion that caused her to look up at him, her bottom lip trembling.

"Hey, no. She will not, nor will any of the Royal family. You are your own person. I will personally see to it that you are treated correctly, okay?" Link sniffled.

"I...okay. Zelda cared about me, I know that much. She just didn’t know what was wrong with me." Sidon kissed the top of her head, and felt her golden strands of hair drape over him as she leaned against the side of his chest. "I trust you."

“Mipha used to tell me of Zelda’s kindness. Perhaps it was her father, or the Royal Chancellors who tried to keep you on such a tight leash. Plus, you cannot stop now, your face has really begun to soften since I’ve met you.” She perked up, her eyes beginning to show that lovely excited sparkle once more.

“Really?!” The grief that was stricken across her face melting away was like anxiety taking Sidon out of an emotional chokehold, and he exhaled happily to catch his breath.

“Yes, absolutely. You haven't noticed? Not just your face, that treatment has been very kind to you, my love.” 

“What other changes have you noticed?” Sidon felt as though he’s done this to himself before, he was afraid he was making it too obvious her body was on his mind very often. There was an awkward pause, and a fleeting mental image of holding her budding nipple between his thumb and finger made his mind swim freely. She spoke again. “You know what? I can probably guess what you meant, and thank you.” 

“Your hair has gotten longer, too! I promise I wasn’t just thinking of that!” She lazily grabbed a messy strand of her blonde hair.

“You think I should do something with it? Kinda just want to grow it out.” The dainty ring of the restaurant's doorbell opening and closing was heard, and Sidon glanced to see Paya and Mona walking over to them.

“Hey all, hope you didn’t get too bored without us." Mona chipperly stated. Sidon felt Link lean harder against him, putting the full weight of her head on his arm. Her public displays of affection were getting more and more frequent, and the prince couldn’t complain in the slightest.

“Who could be bored in such a welcoming and lively village? To answer your question, Link, I think you should do what you want with it. If you wanted your hair to be down to your knees, I couldn’t protest.” Sidon said with a smile, noting Link hiding embarrassingly behind her golden locks.

“Are you ready to spar, Paya?” Link asked, hiding behind her hair, and Paya’s eyebrows shot up, she looked more than excited. 

“Mm! In just a moment! I brought the swords used for training, they’re just outside!” Paya reached a hand in her robe pocket. “You may want one of these.” The two sat comfortably on the other side of the booth, and Paya held out a neatly crocheted hair tie. “As pretty as your hair is, it’ll just get in the way during sparring.” 

“Thanks.” Link mumbled dumbly, blushing while she reluctantly tied her hair behind her head in a high ponytail. Her hair, usually hiding anything that wasn't her face, revealed a regal looking neckline, soft and pale like honed marble, nothing short of perfection as far as the prince was concerned. 

“ _ Beautiful _ .” Sidon said under his breath, and Link looked at him quizzically. 

“Huh?” She asked. Sidon felt all eyes on him, and he cleared his throat.

“You look fantastic with your hair up like that.” He watched her face light up happily, it seemed like she was a fish out of water without her flowing hair to hide her blushing face.

“Ah- thank you, Sidon." The prince put his right arm around her shoulders, hoping she would find comfort with her head resting against his chest, and she most certainly did. The warm feeling of her face and neck uncovered by her golden hair felt heavenly against his skin.

"So, what did you teach today, Mona?"

The scholar cleared her throat, leaning forward with her shoulder on her book-filled satchel.

"The seasons, and how they affected pre-calamity trade. And how they probably  _ will  _ affect post-calamity trade."

“Oh, quite the interesting subject. It’s almost the beginning of harvest season.”

“Yep--” Mona chirped, looking into her bag and fetching a large, folded up piece of parchment.. “--Thanks to that map you edited, we can kinda guess where to adjust trade routes post-calamity.” She unfolded the paper, revealing a re-scribed version of the map Link edited just a half a week prior. Sidon couldn’t help but notice it was done much more neatly, yet still looked depressingly crossed out in a large amount of places, and trade route options were scribbled all across the parchment. “You know, Harvest Nocturn is right around the corner.”

“Oh, does Kakariko celebrate that? I thought that was a Hylian holiday!” Sidon asked inquisitively, looking up from studying the maps finer details. Paya chuckled, and spoke. 

“Yes, everyone here loves it. The elders get to ward off evil spirits and the kids get to eat sweets and tell poe stories to each other. What’s not to love?” 

“What’s that?” Link asked, and Paya responded quickly.

“It’s a night long event, a time where the line between the living and the dead are supposedly blurred together, so kids will dress up as terrifying monsters, and people will put out bright carved pumpkin lamps and carve scary faces in them to ward off the dead. I think it’s more of a celebration of being afraid, as people use the opportunity to scare each other with local legends and made up stories.” Link made a confused face, her ear flickering.

“What do sweets have to do with it?” Paya shrugged.

“Kids like sugar! It’s tradition to make honey candy or taffy and give them out to the children during the night.”

“I like sweets, but I don’t like being scared.” Link offhandedly mentioned, which made Sidon feel a bit disappointed.

“Oh, but we must celebrate, Link!” He shook her shoulder lightly. “I used to love reading poe stories when I was younger! I wish to carve a pumpkin with you!” Link smiled.

“I want to, too! Just know I get scared really easily. Poes are creepy."

“Then I won’t leave your side the whole night!" Sidon nudged her playfully. "It’s not as if the dead will  _ literally  _ walk the earth!” The prince met eyes with Link, a pleading look in his eye. She nervously nodded, as if knowing what he was wanting, and he turned to Paya and Mona, smiling warmly.

“We’ll be here for the Nocturn!” The prince stated boldly. They returned his expression with large grins.

It wasn’t as if Sidon had ever really had many opportunities to celebrate a holiday with a family before, and the few Zora holidays were based off of more depressing events in their races' history. The Hylian Harvest Nocturn has always seemed lighthearted and fun to Sidon, being his personal favorite of all the Hylian holidays. 

"W-we'd be more than happy to have you, although it won't be for a week and a half."

"We'll set the date!" Paya nodded happily, and turned to the Hylian.

"Okay, I think I'm ready, Link."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're DANG right I added Halloween in this fic, I NEED it to happen, it'd be too cute to read. Thank you for reading!!
> 
> I love you all!


	23. Like a snake in tall grass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Paya spar, the once revered bodyguard of Zelda is tested through combat, and the feeling is all too familiar.

The four stood in a small wooded area near the outskirts of Kakariko, a tight bundle of forest acted as a barrier from the village, and the dense pink petals of the thick dark-wooded trees let in scattered sunbeams of warm morning light on the ground. 

Link gripped the wooden training sword, surprisingly light in her hands, and watched Paya do several stretches to warm up for the fight. The Shiekah girl was normally so withdrawn in herself, but her body language and expression showed an unusual, unreadable stoicism. Perhaps she was just as nervous as Link, and didn’t know how to express it.

"You're okay with full contact sparring, yes?" Link's eyes widened, as it suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea what the rules were; or at least, she didn’t remember them.

"You don't know the rules, that's okay!" She said in a pleasantly amused tone as she wrapped her poofy hair with another tie. 

Link could see Sidon and Mona standing in the shade of a tree, the two coversing just out of earshot. "The idea is, I try to land an attack on you, and you try to land an attack on me. You can block my hits with your weapon, just as I can with yours, but the round ends when one lands a body blow on the other." Link nodded simply. "Don't be afraid to hit me, okay?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Paya." She shook her head, assuming a wide stance, and held her sword out ceremoniously with two hands.

"Do not be afraid to do so, it is my honor to spar with you. Assume the stance I'm taking, and rest your sword against my own." Link exhaled nervously, and tried her best to mimic Paya. 

_ Simple enough, right? Not too different from fighting; based on reactions. This should be easy.  _ Her words to herself were like bandages on nervous perforations in her bravery. “Mona? Could you give us a countdown?” 

Mona stood forward, clearing her throat. Link gave a quick and faux-confident smile to her boyfriend, who’s lips raised into a warm smile in response. The girl held out three fingers on her blue, freckled hand. 

“Three…” Link met eyes with the Shiekah girl. “Two…” Her white eyebrows furrowed in an uncharacteristically stern expression, a familiar inkling of something beyond deja vu pushed her brain to the brink like an anxious epiphany. 

“One!” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ Clack!  _

“Come, Link. Where’s your spirit? You’re making yourself too easy to read!” As quickly as the muscular Impa said this, Link felt the air knocked from his lungs in what could have been, if not for her use of a wooden sword, a deadly counterattack. “If you wish to beat me, you must  _ resonate  _ with me. You must match my resolve.” Link coughed, and inhaled a shaky breath. “Again.” She said, sternly. 

The room was impressively large, decked with royal Hylian banners and practice dummies, with groups of varying ranks of the Royal Army sparring in more traditional Hylian style; barbarically with blunted swords and thick platemail.

“What do you see in my expression, what does my body language tell you? What is my intent? What do I have to lose?” He didn’t really know, for the only thing not hidden by her face wrap was her eyes. They appeared fierce, determined; befitting of an unfaltering sword against any threat to the Royal Family. “I  _ know  _ I’m not facing an inferior opponent, you are my equal, do not be  _ foolish _ .” She made a loud, sharp yawp, signifying the beginning of another round.

_ Lowered shoulders. Sidestepping. Holding her sword at waist level. She’s waiting for me.  _

She stared him down like a snake in tall grass, an expression rife with unmitigated, unwavering fury. Her neck craned, sizing him up with the comfort that he wouldn’t make the first move.

The seconds stretched and bled together as he heard the sparring Hylian knights around him striking each other. Time stopped; a fleeting and twitching movement from Impa kicked his adrenaline like a mule, and he raised his sword to block on his left.

What did land, however, was a fierce blow on the right side, punching the air from his lungs once again.

" _ Ahh,  _ you make a drunk like me look too coordinated! Show me who you are! Show me Zelda's sword arm! Again!" He nodded. Another sharp yawp. Link pulled his arms and dedicated his strength into an overhead attack, as much speed and fury as he could drive into the sword right to her shoulder.

_ Clack!  _

Impa pushed his attempt away and stomped forward, plunging the wooden end of the sword right against his chest and pushing him back.

"Mindless attacks! No intent! Fight with your spirit! There's much more than a silent bodyguard in there, Link, show him to me!"

She barked another fearsome cry and held her sword out. "Again!"

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ Clack! _

Paya's sword struck hard against Link's as she held it up to block; an absolutely stunning blow that cracked through the air like a whip. 

No doubt, this was the granddaughter of the great warrior Impa, as her aura was emanating with fierce resolution, and she wore an expression that demanded whoever viewed it to know that she was unbreakable.

_ Breathe. Fight with my spirit. Match her resolve.  _ Link pushed Paya's sword and stepped back, readying her stance again. She really did look just like Impa, no longer nervously eyeing the ground, or hiding behind herself; she kept eye contact like poison slathered daggers into Link.

_ Match her resolve. _

Fleeting images of the prince struggling in the ditch of Eldin canyon flew past her. The uproar of cheers among the Zora people upon the taming of Ruta, and among the Gerudo with Naboris. She remembered how their elders wept as Vah Naboris stomped its way out of their desert like a lifted curse, how Zora were lining up to leave the domain to see the realm for the first time in a hundred years, regardless of how tattered the realm had become. 

She remembered the prince opening his eyes after being sick from saving her life, and immediately telling her how  _ beautiful  _ she looked. Her hands tightened around the swords hilt.

Link stomped forward, attempting a righteous blow to Paya's left, yet as quickly as she swung, Paya blocked with the foresight of an expert.

The Shiekah's fury was driven through a decisive blow to Link's middle, yet as if the Hylian was simply following her step in a coordinated dance, she held the wooden sword to protect herself. 

The air was electrified; Link felt as though she and Paya were one and the same, two sides of the same being fervently struggling to outmatch each other. 

Paya bellowed courageous and frightful cries as the two fighters became a flurry of attacks and counterattacks.  _ Lower left, respond, thrust, respond. _ Link became overwhelmed in the pattern and mistimed a block, receiving a solid  _ whack  _ to her side; a loss well earned. 

Their passion died down for a moment, a chance to breathe, adrenaline and beading sweat began to collect on the Hylian’s pores.

Her hyper-focus on Paya fell away; she could see the trees letting in the peeking sunlight, and she noticed how amazed their two adoring onlookers appeared at witnessing them spar. Ah, but Link wasn’t finished, not by a longshot. Paya held her sword out, taking the fighting stance that seemed second nature to Link now, and she responded, a familiar feeling that she did not push away in the slightest. The thrill of battle welcomed her back from her hundred year slumber with open arms, or perhaps this was the first time she’s ever truly experienced it, yet regardless, it felt  _ good _ .

The Shiekah girl yelled sharply, much the same as her grandmother once did to signify their battle. Link felt the energy in the air rise again, vibrations that harmonized through their spirits, and the rest of the world melted away save for the solid ground that they stood upon.

_ Clack!  _

Link's muscles shuddered at the force of Paya's sword smacking against her own and immediately pulling back to attempt a swing from another direction. The white-haired girl was trying to mix her strategy, to play off of a rhythm to lull the Hylian into messing up again like she did before. 

_ Not this time. _

The Hylian thought of the words the prince said to her as they swam to tame the defiled Ruta, the same words he imparted her with as she walked out of Ruta to tame Rudania. 

_ I believe in you! _

Link took the opportunity to pull her weapon back as Paya swung down and drove the blunted wooden tip of the sword Paya's chest, and the white-haired girl's weapon fell away before it made contact with Link's side. Paya stumbled back, her facial expression was still determined, her brows still furrowed. She wordlessly held her sword out. 

This exchange of fighting continued for what felt like hours, hits being landed on both sides, the cloth handle of the practice sword Link held was damp with exhaustion, as was her exposed forehead, dripping with beads of sweat. Regardless of Link's newfound understanding of Impa's fighting advice, no words could describe how skilled the elder's granddaughter truly was.

She felt as though she matched the Shiekah girl's skill to some degree, but by Hylia, Paya fought beyond that, if just a bit more.

The two stood, panting and holding their weapons in their tired hands. Paya straightened up, and bowed politely. 

Link did so as well, if not as properly as Paya, her body aching from the blunt strikes she'd taken in the past hour. Paya's expression sobered as she set the tip of her sword against the ground, digging it slightly into the dirt and leaning against it in her exhaustion.

“It was an honor.” Paya said proudly. Link could find no words to describe how much that last hour meant to her, but she knew that the white-haired girl felt the same. 

“You fight like your grandmother did.” Paya’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but before she could respond, Sidon and Mona approached.

“That was  _ amazing,  _ Link!” Sidon yelled.

“Paya, I had no idea you were that skilled!” Mona said, exasperated and starry eyed at the white-haired girl’s talent, and Paya blushed intensely at her praise.

“That looked like a choreographed play, I swear! I barely find it possible that  _ that  _ fighting wasn’t planned.” The prince said, as Link undid the tie that held her hair in a ponytail, and shook her head to let her locks fall on her shoulders. The Hylian was surprised as Sidon picked her up and shook her in a loving hug. The feeling of being lifted by the prince made Link’s overworked nerves relax, and she giggled gleefully.

“Aha, I promise it wasn’t planned! Ah-” She met eyes with the prince as he held her to close to his body at eye level.

“You never fail to take my breath away.” Sidon huffed. “I knew you could fight, but...I did not just see how strong you are, I  _ felt  _ it, too.” She stared deeply into his brilliant yellow eyes. 

This man was who she fought for. No matter how tough the task, or skilled the warrior, she would do everything she could to protect him. 

“Sidon,  _ she _ was so strong, too.” Sidon chuckled happily, just as surprised as she was.

“I know! Paya, you were simply mesmeriz-” Sidon stopped himself short, as Mona and Paya appeared to be having a moment, their arms wrapped around each other in a close hug. 

Paya’s eyes were shut tight in their embrace, it appeared she was completely focused on Mona. 

They pulled apart, and Paya struggled to keep eye contact with the Zora girl, not used to such overwhelming praise.

“Really, you’re too sweet to me, Mona.” The scholar chuckled.

“You deserve it, Paya. I know you aren’t used to it, but you deserve it. You’re too talented to go unappreciated, I swear.” She looked back to Link with a glint in her eye. “You both were so energized! I’ve never seen anyone move so fast in my life!” Link giggled, and held out a hand for Paya, a handshake being a more Hylian way to consummate a battle; a trick she could now vaguely remember from training.

“So, you remember my grandmother?” The Shiekah girl asked as she shook Link’s hand. 

“I do. She tried to teach me how to fight like you do, but I didn’t understand how to at the time.”

“I think it’s fair to say you do now.” She said softly, and Link smiled, gazing down at her own shoes.

“Let’s do that again sometime.” Link looked up to see Paya smiling at her, a brief flash of Impa in her youth showed in her eyes. 

“We shall. I’d have it no other way.”

“I smell bad.” Link mumbled as the four walked out of the dense canopy of pink blossomed trees and back into Kakariko. “Where can I bathe, Paya?” 

“Um. Usually people just bathe in their homes, here. There's a few more secluded places! If you go down that way, you can find the Great Fairy Spring, which has running water.” She pointed back through the woods at a beaten path overgrown with tall grass.

“Does it have a fairy?” Link asked curiously, and the three all sort of laughed at her cluelessness. Paya spoke, her sword resting comfortably on her shoulder.

“No fairies, I’m afraid. It’s called that because there’s a lot of flowers surrounding the area, and the waters just seem to flow freely down a small stream and never empty. Some say it’s enchanted.” The Hylian gave her a skeptical look. “Trust me, it’s safe. I’ve been there many times.”

Still apprehensive, Link readjusted her bag and looked to Sidon for an opinion.

"Want me to accompany you, Link? It’s been a while since I’ve been able to swim, honestly.”

For a creature that can survive solely underwater, Prince Sidon has only ever shown off his water treading abilities a scarce few times since they’ve known each other.

“Yeah, I’d love that.” Link said happily.

“Let me have your practice sword, Link.” The Hylian handed Paya the curved, dark wood sword. “You don’t plan to leave after your bath, yes?”

“Not at all.” Link replied succinctly. “We should leave tonight, but, why not enjoy dinner together before we go?”

“Of course! If you'd like, I can wait until dinner to tell grandmother of our spar, and we can eat in the temple. I think she'd love to hear that you remember her."

Link felt a little overwhelmed at the idea. 

It felt like the younger Impa was so extremely different than the one she knows now, but the Hylian _had_ to tell her that she knows what the elder meant by fighting with ones spirit, and she also had to thank her for being such a wonderful friend when her life was in such a dark place. 

"Yeah. We'll be there." 

The four split, Sidon and Link headed back into the dense trees and made their way through the tall grass of the scarcely beaten path.

"Link, I know im repeating myself here, but your fighting was absolutely astounding." Link giggled as she pushed aside a large branch in the path; it appeared the little dirt road was completely overgrown, and it only got more green as they went on.

"Thank you, prince. I don't stack up to Paya, or Impa, but I think I understand how much fun it can be."

"Oh, but my love, you were such an unstoppable typhoon! What do you remember from-  _ Ow!"  _ Link looked up just as the prince bumped his head on a thick mossy branch.

"Are you okay?!" She asked quickly, and watched as he rubbed his head in pain. 

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm nearsighted and foolish, but I'm fine." Link chuckled loudly. By the goddess, she loved him so much. 

"I'm not laughing at you, I promise! I just...you're so cute!" Sidon blushed.

"I'm tall, is what I am!" Link pushed aside a large bush, and the spring, teeming with light and life, was revealed to them.

"My word." Sidon said, aghast. "Great Fairy Spring is a rather fitting name, don't you think? This place is  _ magical."  _ The large, flowing pond was surrounded with colorful flowers, some of which appeared to  _ glow  _ with a curious luminosity. The dense trees were covered in hanging moss, and greenery spread throughout everything, save for the crystal blue waters of the spring. It looked like an ancient landmark, one forgotten by time.

“I’d almost feel bad bathing here.” Link suddenly realized the prospect of bathing near the prince. They locked eyes for a moment. By the look on Sidons face, he was thinking the same thing as her.

“You don't mind me being here when you...?” She shook her head.

“No. I want you here.” Link set her bag down near a tree, and pulled her soap out. "You just need to turn around for just a sec." Sidon turned around politely, and Link quickly took off her clothes in the safety of the closed off spring. Being so close to the prince with no clothes on left her body blushing nervously, but she had a plan. She tiptoed around the dainty looking flowers that surrounded the fountains edge, not wanting to leave so much as a footprint in the seemingly sacred place.

As she submerged herself, the water indeed felt calming, a perfect warm temperature that felt like it was relaxing her aching muscles. 

She sat comfortably on the sloping shore with her neck above the surface, and the rest of her submerged in the blue waters of the spring. An absolutely heavenly feeling to float so freely.

"Aah, it feels so good! Come in!" The prince said nothing, but she could hear him wade carefully into the waters, and graciously float into the spring. He chuckled giddily.

"Dry gills be spurned, this is marvelous!" She watched as he let himself float on his back, the finer definitions of his muscles glistening in the sunlight. "Ah, I've missed that feeling so much!" Sidon looked over at his beloved. "Are you alright, my love?" She found herself in a daze at his form, and felt it hard to tell him anything when words didn't do justice to how beautiful he looked stretched out in the pristine waters.

"Yeah! You just look so...handsome." His lips curled into a surprised smile.

"Ah, my dearest, you're so kind. All I could think of when I saw you fighting was how absolutely stunning you looked." She blushed feverishly.

"I um...I thought of you when I fought." The prince perked up curiously. "I remembered Impa telling me to fight with my spirit, so I thought of you, because you make me feel strong." She watched his expression soften, and he rolled over in the water and gently waded in front of her. He met her eyes, and his lips parted slightly, but she wasn't nearly done speaking yet. "You are my spirit, prince. You make me feel so beautiful and cared for. There have been so many times where you've risked your life to protect me, to protect your people, because you want everyone to be happy. You're my  _ hero." _

"By Hylia, I love you, Link." Link's eyes widened, and her heart fluttered wildly like a windswept butterfly. She felt tears in her eyes, and her breath began to quicken as her words stumbled off of her tongue.

"I love you too, Prince Sidon!" She pulled herself close to him in a kiss, pressing her whole body up against him. Sidon let out a shuddering exhale, and he grasped the middle of her back.The Hylian felt herself slightly lifted and pushed up the incline of the spring. No thoughts of worry passed through her mind as her naked body became exposed to the elements, no; in that moment she didn't care what he saw, she simply wanted to engulf herself in the prince and nothing else.

He placed her down in the flowers; the grass and longer leaves stretched and swayed underneath her to accommodate her thin, pale body. He pulled back from their kiss and looked her head to toe, his face lit up with a bright cyan blush. She heard his slow, rhythmic breathing deepen, and It felt like time stopped as he scanned his eyes over her body. Extreme vulnerability washed over her, a need to cover herself and her scars made her shoulders and face flush, but by the goddess, she  _ loved _ the hunger in his eyes. She glanced down, darting her eyes from his crotch to his yellow pupils, and it appeared that he knew exactly what she wanted. 

She wanted  _ him. _

His wet body dripped onto her, his towering form casting shade over her like a canopy. She blushed fiercely as Sidon wrapped a hand around her ankle and pulled her leg up; such a demanding motion that was exemplified by his unfurled twitching cocks as he viewed her lower half.

He placed a large amount of thick saliva on the smaller of his two members, and she felt butterflies in her stomach as he rubbed a small amount on her entrance; she had no idea that she would feel so sensitive there, but the way her heart ignited as he pressed and rubbed her hole in little circles surprised her, and she held a hand over her mouth to suppress her squeaks. He placed the head of a stark white cock against her, the larger of the two laying against hers and throbbing eagerly, and her thoughts grew louder, her inner dialogue was  _ screaming _ for him to enter her. She no longer wanted him, she no longer wished for her lover to engulf her, no; she so desperately  _ needed  _ him. In that moment, she wished to  _ drown  _ in him.

They locked eyes as the warm tip slipped inside of Link. 

_ Oh,  _ how the feeling sent shocks of pleasure down her legs as his length snugly fit itself inside her, and how Sidon's expression fell from surprise, to serious longing. One of his hands ran the length of her side, coming to a stop, securing his fingers around her shoulder to pull her against him as he pushed, and Link could do nothing to help her excited moans as they escaped her lips, watching his cock disappear inside of her. Link hugged her legs around the prince as best she could, giving him more leverage to do with her as he pleased. He certainly took the initiative, as he began sliding himself in and out of the Hylian.

" _ Oh, my love."  _ His words sent goosebumps en masse across her arms and legs. His towering body had never looked so beautiful before, completely covering her, completely taking up everything in her vision; she'd never felt more safe than in that moment. She gyrated her hips to aid the prince's thrusts without a second thought, and found her fingers wrapped around his second cock, watching Sidon smile and slightly chuckle in sheer amazement of how good she was making him feel. Sidon’s hand moved to the nape of her neck, cradling her from the hard soil beneath her. She watched her boyfriends lips part to speak very quietly under his moans of pleasure.

" _ You are such a beautiful girl."  _

By the Goddess, she felt beautiful.

She gasped and dug her nails into the dirt as he began moving faster, the warming friction of his cock inside of her reached a heavenly peak as she heard it slapping in and out of her ass. She knew that he was nearing climax, she felt it through his breaks in his rhythm, and any innocence she knew went out the window as she felt _intense_ cravings for the prince's cum inside of her.

She was getting completely lost in his movements, drunk with lust, sensitive to every single little pulsation of his cock in her tight hole.

" _ Ah, Faster!"  _ He gripped her harder and shook her very soul with his thrusts.

" _ I'm cumming, Link!"  _ Her fingertips felt his cock pulsate and tense up, and he pulled his other member out of her and shot his love all over her chest and tummy. His cum was so warm, and she felt surges of gratification as it covered her body. 

Sidon panted, placing his hand next to her head and leaning forward to kiss her. Her animalistic need for him to continue dominating her still pounded her mind, yet she just as easily got lost in Sidon’s lips. 

Link felt him scoop her body up with his hands on her back, and he let himself float back into the water with the Hylian on his chest. The water beneath them sloshed as their panting began to calm; a heavenly afterglow melted her lower half.

“I love you.” His voice vibrated her small chest.

“I love you too, Sidon.” His hand caressed her back, the movements sending ripples across the water they floated upon. Other than the quiet babbling of the pond, silence fell between them, Link seemingly hypnotized by Sidon’s hand running the length of her back. 

“My goddess, your skin is so soft." His fingers trailed down to her butt, and he softly grasped her left cheek. Link felt as though she  _ belonged  _ to him now; like his mark had been made on her, and she quietly reveled in the idea. She scooted up his chest and his hand trailed away from her, feeling it appropriate to keep her mind from falling back to being in heat for her boyfriend. 

"I don't think I could think of a better time to tell you how I feel." The prince gestured around them. "This place, this time with you, Link. It's like a fairytale." She hummed, her eyes half lidded as she watched him talk. "When I was ill, my sister visited me in my dreams." Link's ear twitched.

"She actually visited you?" 

"No, I believe I was just deliriously talking to myself," He sighed, "but it was so nice to see her, even if it wasn't really her. She told me to tell you how I feel about you. I took her through our memories together, and as soon as I woke, there you were, right there to take care of me." Her lips curled into a smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me when you woke up?” Sidon blew out of his gills amusedly, and a blue blush creeped across his cheeks.

“I’ve come close so many times, I just wanted to tell you when I was ready.”

“You picked the right time, prince.” She lazily reached an arm up and ran her fingers on his jawline, looking at her reflection in his snake-like irises. “No one at the stable believed I was riding a divine beast with a sick Zora prince." He chuckled. 

"That does sound like a bit of a stretch, doesn't it?"

"I guess so, but being with you has _all_ been really unbelievable. I don't know how I got so lucky to call myself yours." He gave her a kiss on her forehead. 

"Oh, Link, I consider myself just as lucky."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might have been my favorite chapter to write, which I'm sure I've said that a lot, but there's something about this one that felt especially good. I just really enjoy writing fight scenes, I guess. Thank you for reading!
> 
> I love you all!


	24. Diplomatic, Treaty-signing Charisma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pretty fluffy episode! Link and Sidon talk with their friends in Kakariko, and the two set their sights on the last Divine beast!

Her legs were wobbly and weak as she walked, pushing aside the bushy entrance to the little haven and back into the midday pink-petaled forest. Link’s eyes adjusted to the harsh midday light, the smell of sweet cherry blossoms dancing through the breeze.

She leaned her body against her boyfriend as they walked down the shallow slope and into the somewhat busy village center.

“Your hair is um…” Link looked up at Sidon, quirking a blonde brow.

“Huh?” He stifled laughter. 

“Your hair is quite messy, my love.” Link pulled out her Shiekah slate and viewed herself from her front facing camera. Her hair looked as if she had just woken up, probably from being thrashed around in the flower patch. She nervously patted her hair down, hoping that no one was onto her for her unkempt appearance. 

“Who won, Link?” Link startled at the sharp and childish voice of Hana in the village center. She had a leather apron specifically tailored to her size hugging her body; it was covered in black grease.

“Ah! Hey, you! Paya did!” She cocked her head.

“How?!”  _ Does no one else know how talented Paya is? _

“She’s a way better fighter than I am! Have you never seen her fight?” Hana shook her head. 

“Nope! She must be pretty good, though! Oh oh oh!” She pushed the hip of Prince Sidon, fishing in her apron for something specific. “Look what Mona gave me!” Sidon got down on one knee and took the thick leaflet of folded paper from her hands, a schematic drawn on new looking paper.

“Aha, she just gave you the whole collection!” He eyed over the collection of diagrams of swords, daggers, crossbows and bows, even a few quarterstaffs and maces. “Which do you plan to make first?”

“Thaaat one.” She reached up on her tippy toes and pointed to a shortsword with Hylian symbols, a Triforce embossed on the handle. “It looks small enough for me to easily work on, I think.”

“Ah, a lovely choice! This is the one that was in Link’s home back in Hateno.” 

“I didn’t know you had a house, Link.” She mumbled.

“I didn’t either, then I was given the deed to a house.” Link said flatly, craning her head over to the schematics; a lot of work went into creating them, with pages completely filled with pinpoint dimensions and specified temperatures at which to smith the metal, such high standards were not surprising for the Royal family.

“Are you going to let me see when you’re finished?” Sidon asked. The girl nodded matter-of-factly. 

“I’ll show you, only if you show me something you’ve knit!”

“Deal, friend.” 

“ _ Hana, where’d you go? How do you disappear so quickly?”  _ A billowing voice came from the half-completed house on the other end of the village. 

“ _ Yeah, yeah, dad! Just a sec!”  _ She held out her hand, and Sidon folded up the sheaf of papers and handed it to her. “Are you guys gonna be here tomorrow morning?” Link and Sidon looked at each other, and shook their heads.

“I think we’re going to head to Hebra tonight, but we’ll be here for the Harvest Nocturn. Probably the day before.” Her eyebrows shot up excitedly. 

“ _ Aaaaaaaaa! I love the Harvest Nocturn!”  _ She went in for a surprise embrace at the Hylian, and Link exhaled heavily at her projectile hug. “I’m gonna be a Wizrobe!” Sidon held a hand to his mouth and squealed with adoration. 

“Oh, that’s  _ perfect _ !”

“Okayokayokay, I gotta go! Love you two!” She blew an overdramatic kiss at the air and skipped away on her back heels. Sidon stood ramrod straight.

“Well, I suppose we should go to Lady Impas shrine, hm?” Link felt her nerves brush the back of her neck, looking up to the elders abode. She trusted, for the most part, that the elder wouldn’t see her any differently now that she remembers what Impa used to be like. She didn’t know if that was a time she regretted, or simply chose to disregard. 

They scaled the wooden steps; the creaking of the boards was heard along with the sounds of plates and muffled chatter coming from the other side of the thin walls. She slid the door open, and Mona looked back at them, sitting cross legged and pulled up to a low wooden dining table, one that Link had never seen before. The two walked into the house; it smelled of steamed vegetables and cabbage. 

“How was the spring?” Mona asked as she cocked her head curiously, revealing the smiling nesting doll-like Impa sitting in her pillow from behind her.

“It was…” Link's voice caught in her throat, and Sidon spoke up in her stead, wanting to avoid embarrassment just as much as she did.

“Simply magical. You must see it, if you haven’t already. It puts the clean waters of the domain to shame, frankly.” Mona smiled. 

“That good, huh?”

“Come in, don’t be strangers, you two!” Impa croaked, and gestured the two next to the table. Sidon and Link sat next to each other, settling in to their welcoming surroundings. Link could swear the interior seemed to change a little bit every single time she entered. There were always new books or papers strewn in the corners, or tables propped up in different places in the temple. 

“Yes, it’s not a surprise they’re seen as rejuvenating. They might be geothermically heated, particularly mineral rich, or something along those lines.” Mona quirked her brow. 

“Or, hear me out,  _ OR  _ there was an actual great fairy that used to live there.” Sidon chuckled.

“You may be right! With how mythical it is, it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I think the old scholars and handmaidens at the domain got to you, prince,” Mona said with a knowing grin. “If they tried to tell you the Great Fairies didn’t exist, they clearly have been shut in too long, there's evidence of them from like five hundred years ago.” Sidon rested an elbow on the table, and leaned forward.

“Well, I'm more than open to hear a newer generations opinion on such things.” 

“I think they moved.” 

“Moved? Where?”

“Don’t know that one yet, but there’s more than one place just like that spring around Hyrule. Perfectly circular pond, covered in flowers and moss. It's like they all just stood up and left.”

Sidon huffed unbelievingly.

“You just  _ found  _ these?” She nodded. 

“Completely identical. Scouts honor.” She held up a hand. “They're all on the map. You gotta look really close. I think that I will go gallivanting one day, there’s too much out there to discover, you know?”

“I know exactly what you mean, Mona.”

The scholar huffed.

"It's not as if I could go to any other scholar about this, you know? I'm the crackpot with the crazy theories. I tried approaching Endal with that one, he told me I was wasting my time, and that a second Calamity will happen before any of my theories come true." Link frowned.

"Well, gah, that’s like saying any questions aren’t worth asking."

"Exactly." She sighed heavily, resting her head in her hand. "I think everyone back home was just stressed, the elders ran the scholars out the door to get the rest of Hyrule re-educated. Curiosities like the spring just go untalked about."

"Well, you're talking to us, and we're listening." Sidon said, softly, and Mona smiled.

“Aha, yeah, thanks. I spent like, four hours talking Payas ear off last night about what I think about the temple that surfaced.” Paya came down the stairs wearing puffy white gloves with a huge ceramic pot, and placed it in the middle of the table.

“H-hey Link, prince. Nice to see you.” Paya said with a smile, producing a set of bowls and large spoons from under the table.

“How are your bruises?” Link asked.

“Not too bad.” 

“Bruises?” Impa asked curiously. Paya looked over to Link as she scooped a heaping ladle full of a thin, savory smelling soup into a bowl.

“Go ahead, Link.” She whispered.

“Paya and I sparred.” The elders beady eyes widened, and she smiled a mouthful of prosthetic looking teeth.

“Oh, my. You did, did you? You've never sparred with someone your age, Paya.” She glanced over at Paya, and back to Link. “How badly did my granddaughter beat you, dear?” She laughed like an old creaky door at her own joke, slapping her knee.

“I think it was a tie.” Paya said, and the old woman furrowed again.

“Oh, really?” 

There was a pause. 

“I’ve started remembering my life before the calamity.” Impa turned her head slowly to the Hylian, and the elder sighed unreadably. “I remembered you today.” Impas face was lit up by her wrinkles as she smiled, and Link felt like she was shown a completely different side of her.

“I was hoping you would one day.” She chuckled, waving her hand thankfully to the bowl of soup Paya placed in front of her. “There are many things we did together. When you were assigned bodyguard, I just started talking to you, and to my suprise, you listened. You always listened.” She pressed her lips together. “What did you remember?”

“Training with you, in the castle.” 

“Ah, that feels like a completely different life. I remember, I do. I remember how frustrated with yourself you used to get when we sparred.” Link smiled, her ears fell a bit, embarrassingly.

“I remember that, too.”

“Aha! That’s the face you used to make!” She chuckled, and took a moment to think. “You know…” She looked blankly into her bowl. “You kept my head on my shoulders back then. All of the chancellors did nothing but speak of Ganon's return. Even Rhoam wouldn’t stop talking about it.” 

“And it tore you up.” Link mumbled, and Impa met her eyes to Link and nodded grimly.

“It did. I drank, and stayed quiet and stewed like an overworked handmaiden.” The elder sniffled, and she chuckled at herself. “But you listened. Thank you.”

“Paya fights just like you did.” Impa smiled, and she glanced at her granddaughter.

“Ah, I know she does. She’s a strong-willed woman, as are you, Link.” The tips of Link’s ears heated up. “I never knew what it was that held you back. I knew you could fight, you could wrestle the horns off of a raging bull, but...you never could choreograph yourself, you fought too barbarically.”

“So did the rest of the army.” Link mumbled.

“Oh, I’m aware, but I knew you could do better than that. You proved me right today. Nothing is to hold you back any longer, you’ve found your spirit.” Link’s heart skipped.

“I’m honored.”

“Ah-” Impa inhaled. “But I am honored, to see you grow into your own. Princess Zelda would be so proud of you.” Mona’s expression lit up like a candle.

“We um...we don’t know if she’s dead.” Paya looked nervously at the elder, who’s expression fell back into an unreadable stupor.

“I don’t believe I follow, dear. What do you mean?” 

“Maybe now isn’t a good time to-” Impa held out a hand to stop her granddaughter from interrupting.

“Hang on, love. Let me listen.” There was an awkward silence, a fumbling of words.

“I, well... _ we _ were informed that all three of the Triforce holders are alive.” Impa furrowed her brow, shaking her head slowly, and spoke quietly.

“I… _ I watched her go in there with no more than three men.  _ I tried to stop her, I did everything in my power, but she told me to look for the king. I didn’t have the stomach to tell her that I’d already seen him dead.” The room fell to silence, the elders voice was shaking as if someone opened a wound. “There’s no way she could still be alive.” The old woman looked over at Link, and her eyes widened. “Unless... _ oh. Could it be _ ? _ ”  _

“I’m sorry, lady Impa, I didn’t-”

“ _ Nonsense _ .” She huffed, trying to hold back her tears. “Do not be sorry. So you think she’s in stasis, just like Link was, yes?” Mona nodded grievously.

“Yes.” Impa put on a half smile.

“Ah, I cannot recall such an excavation site that held a resurrection chamber, but...that makes my heart feel whole. I do hope you’re right.” Link watched Sidon put up a hand to speak.

“So, do you know what we’ll do if she  _ is  _ alive?” Impa pursed her lips.

“I wish I had a proper answer to that. She was a wonderful leader, I would not fear sending any of Kakarikos people to help rebuild when the time is right. Speaking of which, when do you plan to visit Hebra?” Link took a bite of the salty soup; a cabbage filled, pork belly affair.

“Tonight. We’ll get there by morning.” 

“Ruta does wonders, I gather? That’s a 3 day walk, as I recall.” The elder smiled as she asked. 

“Saves us from having to wade through the Bokoblins and Lizalfos along the way.”

“Just don’t freeze to death when you get to Rito village. You never did like the cold.” Sidon chuckled at this.

“Ahh, no she does not.” Link’s face flushed at the prince's cheeky comment. 

“Aha, oh. In Rito village, her ears used to shiver from the winds.” Sidons brow shot up, and he set his spoon back down in his soup.

“Come, that’s  _ too  _ adorable, you cannot be serious.” Link playfully pushed her boyfriend’s shoulder, groaning. “What? You’re cute, Link!” 

“They make coats out of their feathers and sell them there. You really should consider one, Link.”

“What about you, prince?” Mona asked nervously. “You’re gonna get cold, too.”

“Ah, I have a plan. Not a very well thought out one, but a plan nonetheless.” She quirked her brow.

“Which is?...” 

“Knitting a robe before I get there.” She rocked her head back and barked a quick laugh.

“Okay, well,  _ don’t _ do that.” Sidon chuckled.

“I know what you’re thinking, no, I’m not planning on doing it from scratch. I simply plan to measure myself and use a few of my blankets for cloth.”

“Mm.” The scholar mused. “I don’t know if that’ll work, but hey, it’s not like anyone makes Zora clothes, right?”

"How have we gotten there in the past without freezing, Mona?" The scholar rolled her eyes in thought. 

"Hylian and Shiekah garb will fit on most Zora, we just buy their clothes when we absolutely need em. You're the rare exception."

"Yes, well, I come from a long line of large men, most of which had properly paid, properly exhausted tailors under hire." Link nudged her boyfriend.

"You're not  _ that _ tall."

"Say that to me the next time I bump my head on just about anything." She giggled.

"At least you're not as tall as your dad!" Sidon smirked.

"Ceilings would come to fear me if I grew that tall. Thankfully I've no growth spurts to worry about anymore." Link chuckled, but couldn't help sighing in relief to herself. While she would do anything to be by his side, she couldn't fathom being physically intimate with someone as large as King Dorephan.  _ How would that work?  _ She shuddered at the thought. 

As she watched her friendly company continue to converse over a hot meal, her mind drifted back to what transpired in the Great Fairy Spring, as it had been drifting to since the moment Sidon reached climax.

_ Sidon saw all of me. He saw my scars...saw my...and I didn't care. He didn't care.  _ She ran a finger across the little raised area on her shirt, the stitching of her old wound.  _ He just...made love to me.  _ She felt her skin tense with goosebumps. Sidon leaned into the Hylian a bit, perhaps he knew she was spacing out, maybe even knew what she had on her mind. 

“I don’t think there’s any issue.” The elder spoke. “Perhaps before the calamity she would be barred from such things, but. I take no issue with someone as young as her taking up smithing.”

“I’m glad you see it that way,” Sidon mused, “I believe she may have a future in that sort of thing.” The elder smiled softly.

“She’s always been a black sheep, not many of the kids talk to her. I think her father is her best friend.” Impa chuckled.

“I was much the same.” The prince mumbled. “I spent a large amount of my adolescence doing things that were deemed unusual.” 

“Needlework, I gather?” The elder asked, Sidon nodding courteously. 

“Elders loved to tell me my efforts were wasted, that I should have put my efforts into fencing, something deemed more  _ masculine _ .”

“They told you that, Prince Sidon?” Mona asked, getting an indifferent nod out of the Zora prince. “They always told me to keep my nose out of books.”

“ _ Pah _ . Elders love to try to keep people in their little corners.” Sidon glanced over at the Shiekah elder, and a regretful frown grew on his face. “Oh, I did not wish to imply anything, Lady Impa.” The elder shook her head. 

“Mm, well, we’ve always tried to keep people from smithing in the first place. Metalwork here is rare, but when it  _ needs  _ to be done, we do it. We’ve a history of being just as strict, just, more based on principle, on tradition.”

“I always did find it nice that Shiekah hobbyists aren’t made to feel so limited to gender like we are.” Mona said. “I did hear that our head nurse became our head doctor, prince. Seems like you’re trying to break that stigma.” Sidon perked up, and spoke more quietly as he took a bite of soup. 

“Mm, that she did. Laryan deserves it.”

“Any reason why Norwila stepped down?” Mona asked, causing the room to fall into a quiet stupor, save for the faint clacking of dishes. Sidon clicked his fingernails together. 

“Ah...I personally thought his methods were too outdated. One too many  _ incidents _ .”

“Oh…” She paused, and glanced over at Link and back. She inhaled to speak, but said nothing.

“It’s getting late, don’t you think?” Sidon asked as he looked to Link.

“Yes, it was lovely having you, though. I do hope that you two return safely.” Impa said. Link set her bowl on the table, and followed the prince as he stood.

“It was really nice speaking with you, Lady Impa.” Link said politely.

“I hope you can remember more of our memories together, I do so love to re-live such times.”

“I hope I can, too.”

“Don’t freeze out there, okay?” Mona said as she went in for a hug with the Hylian.

“I’ll try not to!” Link shyly said, surrounded by Paya and Mona. 

“Come back soon, I look forward to testing your mettle again.” A sparkle lit up in Link’s eyes.

“Yeah! Hopefully my bruises will be gone by then.” Paya grinned widely.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Prince Sidon set his hand against Vah Ruta, letting the staircase down to allow the two entrance. 

“You know you can control Ruta without having to touch it, right?” Sidon glanced at the Hylian, and a smile crept on his face. 

“I know, but...it just seems polite, don’t you think?” She felt her lips curl into a wide grin.

“You’re so cute.” The prince’s eyes glowed in the red Hyrule sunset, and she could swear her heart had never felt more full. Link set her bag down near the entrance, and place her slate on the beast’s console.

“Let’s go see the bird people.” She said to herself as she tapped a nice spot to stop near a stable next to Rito village, and sat down on their bed. She watched the prince pull a blanket off of her old mattress, and grab his needle kit.

Sidon pulled a length of measuring tape out of his sewing bag, and wrapped it around his arm.

“Whatcha doin?” She asked quizzically.

“My best! With what I have, that is.” He walked over to the dresser, and wrote something down on a sheet of paper.

“Have you ever made clothes, prince?” He looked over at her and shook his head, sitting in his rocking chair as Ruta began walking across Hyrule Field. 

“Not at all!” Link giggled. It was nice seeing him nestle in to his chair again, it seemed like such a comfortable place for the prince; his expression relaxing as he rocked back and forth idly and fiddled with a pair of fabric shears and the blanket. “You’ll get to watch me, no matter how ridiculous it gets. I hope you don’t mind.” Link shook her head, resting her head against the wall as she watched him. 

“No, of course not. You know how much I love watching you sew.”

“And you know how much I love your company.” They shared a loving smile, followed by a moment's pause. 

“Is there a reason you got so distant when Mona asked you about the doctor?” Sidon’s fingers tensed around the blanket he held.

“I just...can’t imagine someone treating you in such a way, and I don’t like to entertain the thought.” Links blonde brows furrowed, it seemed to hurt him just as much as it hurt her.

“It’s okay to talk about.” Sidon looked up and met her gaze.

“My responsibility is to make sure our guests are treated fairly, and you were not. I just...cannot fathom how anyone would go out of their way to call you something you aren't."

"You said it yourself, Zora elders are like that." Sidon stressfully cut a hole in the thick blanket.

"Well, while that is true, you're my only." He placed a circular patch of fabric on the table behind him. “I will not tolerate descrimination in my domain, especially against you.”

Link's felt her cheeks warm up, running the tips of her fingers across the pillow she was leaning against. "I have to thank you, by the way." Her gaze lingered from his busy hands to his eyes, still thoroughly concentrating on his work. "In all my years, I've never found myself memorizing so many names at one time. I feel as though I have... _ friends _ now. It seems as though I could go to Kakariko at any time and be greeted by friendly faces." Sidon smiled to himself. "It's very nice to say those words out loud." Link felt her heart skip.

_ " _ They really like you, prince. I'm excited to go back with you." Sidon's eyes lit up with realization.

"Yes! You've no idea, I used to get so excited about the Nocturn when I was young." Link cocked her head.

"Did you have any way you liked to celebrate?" 

"Cowering in fear in my bed sheets might sound more of an ordeal than a celebration, but, I'd always pick a story or event from history or fiction and read it that night to get me properly scared, usually the more horrific ones." Link giggled.

"That sounds like torture. You were torturing yourself for fun?"

"That's how you see it, but being scared is something to celebrate, in a strange way! Plus, there's so much more to it. My father would help me knit and stuff little pumpkins, and I'd put them by my bedside to get myself in the spirit. He knew I liked the more joyous Hylian holidays." He began pulling a needle  and thread deftly, an oddly satisfying motion that slowed just as quickly as it started, and he made eye contact with the Hylian for a brief moment. "I'm just more than happy that my first Nocturn gets to be with you, my love." Link's hand grasped the pillow she was laying on.

"Me too, Sidon." The prince slid his arm into a length of fabric; it seemed he had fashioned a dusty red colored sleeve.

"Perfect." He muttered to himself, and set the sleeve aside to begin again. "Do you know what you'd like to dress up as for the festivities?" Link chuckled.

"Didn't Paya say that only the kids dressed up?" Sidon shook his head in the negative.

"Not exclusively! It's a day to dress in wacky attire and not be shunned for it. Why would adults not take such an opportunity?"

"Well I don't really know of many of the creatures around Hyrule." This caught the prince's attention, and he set what he was doing aside.

"Oh, that does remind me!" He stood, and rifled through a messy cabinet drawer, and produced a little leather booklet, tied together with a thin length of string. "This, my love--" he placed the little manual in her hand, "--is the Hylian bestiary! Rare or not, most creatures that have been seen walking our lands have been catalogued in this booklet!" The first page had a small note, written in black ink.

_ In dedication to my father, whose keenness for discovery led Hyrule out of illness and misfortune for generations to come, and to the Hero of Hyrule, who held us steadfast from the veil of twilight. _

_ -Shad Brigright. _

The contents of the thin and ancient sheets were packed. Behaviors, eating habits, uses for tracking and hunting. Creatures big and small stenciled and illustrated with care, from livestock to more curious looking beasts, such as the fearsome and obtuse Stone Talus, a rock golem. A gigantic asymmetrical boulder servings as its body, with floating 'arms' at its sides made up of smaller rocks.

_ Said to have been created by an old miner whose attempts to use magic to clear and collect ore failed, the Stone Talus is the stuff of nightmares for mere Hylian wayfarers, but quite the sporting hunt for the ever-voracious Goron people. _

She turned a page, the finer details of these accounts were simply too captivating to not read further. The lumbering Hinox.

_ Often mistakenly called Boko Warchiefs, these Bokoblin are born very rarely, and are quickly ostracized from the rest of the tribe due to their intimidating size and peculiar singular eye.  _

Reanimated undead, stark-mad Wizrobes, the fearsome Lynel; as interesting as they all were, none were sticking, none caught her fancy in the slightest to dress up as. She turned a page, and there it was. 

Of course, the idea of donning a little horn and some mock animal pelts to dress as a tribal and goofy looking Bokoblin made her smirk a bit to herself.

"I think I wanna be a Bokoblin." She said simply, and Sidon barked a quick and hearty laugh.

"With a little horn and fangs?! My dearest, that's too cute! I love the idea!" Link's face lit up.

"I didn't say I was sure!" She said nervously. 

"Well, just so you know, I think you would look quite ferocious!" She found her thoughts drifting to her Gerudo clothes, the beautifully designed set that sat unworn on the bottom of a burlap bag in the corner of Vah Ruta. 

Link suddenly felt a curious motivation, and she met her eyes to the prince's.

"Let me show you something." She said, hopping out of bed and ruffling through a scratchy brown bag. A shame to see such beautiful articles of clothing shoved away by way of disuse. The gold hemming never shimmered so brightly, its vibrant greens and blues brought back memories of Vilia and Ashai, along with the faint smell of the warm desert hidden deep within in the fabric.

Link hid the set of clothing behind her back, and scooted over behind the console; out of Sidon's sight. The sirwal hugged her hips just a bit more than the last time she tried the set on, and the tightness of the top surprised her as she slid it over her chest. Regardless, it felt more comfortable than it ever had before, and sent her mind spinning in disbelief. 

Raised on her skin was the slightly discolored and oddly textured bump of her scar, yet strangely enough, she didn’t seem to mind it much. A few bruises here and there, on her sides, along her forearms; she slid the veil over her face, hiding as she once did to keep the desert sands from flying into her mouth, and to keep her identity a secret.

She slinked out of the safety of the console, and felt her body blush nervously as the tension built in the room. Sidon was focused on a sleeve in his lap, and didn’t seem to notice her slow movements.

“Prince.” She said in a patient whisper.

“Hm?” Sidon looked up, and his eyes immediately traced her figure smoothly in poorly contained shock. His gaze always made her mind crash and surge with nervousness. “ _ Oh, Link.”  _ His face lit up, his hands gripping the fabric in his lap. “Look at you!,'' he whispered loudly. She shied nervously from his awe-filled gaze.

“It’s the first set of girl clothes I’ve ever worn.” She said quietly, and he gestured for her to walk forward, leaning in to speak as softly as she did.

“Quite an article to begin with, it hugs your figure so nicely. May I?” He held out a hand, and whatever it was he wanted to do, Link felt her heart thump quickly in response, and she nodded. His intent calmed her nerves as he gently ran his fingertips across the gold stitching of her top, pinching a small amount of the silky fabric and running it between two fingers. “Exquisite,” he said breathlessly, “such fine threading.” Sidon stopped studying, his eyes trailing up her body, and his expression blossoming under her gaze. He looked nothing short of speechless. “It’s not a surprise that the only beauty that could outdo this clothing is the girl who wears them.” Her skin tingled at his loving words, they cascaded over her body like a blanket, and she barely even noticed that his hand was next to her face. Before she knew what was coming, her veil was gently lifted up, and the distance between her and Sidon grew short. She felt the warm lips of the prince meet against her own, a gentle press with the care one would give when picking up a small animal. 

The polite and angelic brushes their lips gave each other rose in intensity, and Link found her arms wrapped around the back of the prince's neck, pulling as if desperately trying to hold her head above water. Indeed, she felt she was laying her very soul out for Sidon to see, and she knew he was experiencing the same as her, as his arms pulled her closely in their increasingly heated actions. 

“I love you.” He whispered between kisses, his voice was like a hollow gasp, like all of his energy was being put into their passion, yet it sent electric shocks through her system all the same.

“I love you, too, Prince.” She quickly said, a short time frame before Sidon pressed his lips so firmly against her own that she could have sworn it should have hurt, but by Hylia, she could only pull herself to him to even further strengthen their bond. Her ab muscles twitched in surprise as his fingers dug under the lining of her top, attempting to venture under her bra; every follicle of hair on her body was standing on end with the goosebumps that peppered her, yet in this euphoric state, she placed a hand his wrist, and broke their kiss off hesitantly.

“Hey, you have a robe to make, right?” Sidon shook himself out of his lustful state, and retracted his hand from the Hylian like her body were a searing hot pan. 

“That I do.” He paused, and studied her expression sheepishly. “Did I go too far, my love?” Her heart twisted at the nervousness in his voice. She shook her head no.

“Of course not, I just don’t want you to freeze when we get to Hebra.” Through her quick and shy looks to his project that lay in his lap, she saw him place a hand back on the undone fabric, and smile unassuredly.

“I hope you don’t think I  _ need  _ to do such things with you if you ever don’t feel comfortable.” Oh, but she wanted him to. She approached him again, and placed a hand on his cheek, giving a gentle kiss to his crest. If she wasn't worried about his body temperature, she would be basking in his embrace once again.

“Trust me, I wanted to, silly prince.” she mumbled quietly, her eyes momentarily shying from his gaze. "We have plenty of time."

Sidon smirked, and sat upright in his chair.

"Look," He grabbed the two red sleeves he made and slid one over each arm all the way up to his shoulders. "I'm no longer sleeveless!" His dorky smile was contagious, the familiar toothy grin that she fell in love with was stretched across his face.

"Woah. That looks...good."

“No need to sugarcoat it, I know it looks a little lopsided, but I'm new to clothing."

“Sidon, you made sleeves out of a blanket, it looks good.” The prince shrugged.

“I’d like to line it with wool, or something more comforting, as it’s rather scratchy. I now need to make the body!” Link felt a draft coming from the front of their mobile home. 

She glanced out of the front of Ruta; the beast was still making steady strides toward their destination in the middle of a busy forest, full of loud bugs and screeching Keese. If she squinted, she could see a small patch of starlight obstructed by the looming threat of Vah Medoh, an otherworldly sight.

“Look at Medoh from here, Sidon.” He craned his neck and squinted, and spoke sarcastically.

“ _ Oh,  _ that’s a pleasant sight.” Link slipped herself out of sight behind the console, adorning herself with more covering clothing at the sudden change of temperature, and sitting back in their bed, wrapping a blanket around her and leaning against the wall.

It was getting especially late, the temperature was dropping along with the crescent moon upon the horizon, and as pretty as the outside was at such a late hour, Link found herself shivering.

“You okay, Link?” Sidon said worriedly, noticing how bundled up she was. “Here, my love.” The front of Vah Ruta closed, shielding them from the outside sounds and wind. “Better?” She popped her head out of the pile of blankets she was hidden in, and something about the motion made Sidon smile. “One of your ears is poking out of the blanket and the other is still hidden.” She squeaked, and pushed her head further out of the blanket. 

“How’s the robe?” Sidon’s admiring eyes lingered on her for a few seconds longer, before grabbing another piece of cloth on his lap. 

“It’s...something.” He held up the body of the glorified jacket by its ragged hood, long and flowing enough to brush the floor from his shoulders as he walked. “I hope I don’t scare any children wearing this. I just need to sew the last sleeve to it, which will be a moment, then I’ll try it on.” He continued fiddling with a sleeve, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth in concentration. “So, if you’re too cold to go out tomorrow morning, I was thinking I could run out and grab a coat for you before you awaken.”

“Are you sure? They probably sell them at the stable we’ll be stopping at.” He nodded firmly, cutting a red string and giving her a quick glance.

“I insist, as a matter of fact. You’d freeze out there. We’re only halfway there and you’re shivering, sweet girl.” Link felt her ears droop sadly.

“Okay.” Sidon stood, throwing the robe around him and sliding his arms into the sleeves. The dark red cloth fluttered off of his shoulders awkwardly as he tried to fit his head fin into the hood.

“I look like a goon, don’t I?” Link giggled.

“You look like a cultist, Sidon.” He laughed at his own expense.

“Perhaps I’ll just keep my head fin out of the hood, it makes me look hunchbacked.” Other than the odd fittings of his head in the hood, he looked quite comfortable in the robe, a few silver buttons fastened the whole thing together. “It makes for a nice coat, honestly. I think I’d like to keep working on it sometime.” He slid himself out of it, hanging it by the hood on the flower shaped console in the middle of the room. “But for now,” he set his metal armor on the table, and sat himself down in bed next to the bundled Hylian. “I’d like to warm you up, if you will have me.” 

“Yes, please.” She scooted over to her side of the bed, and gladly uncovered herself from the blankets. 

He placed an arm under her body, and pulled her in a swift motion to him.

She settled in lovingly, her heart fluttering as she adhered comfortably to his chest.

“You’re so warm.” She mumbled, bathing in his scent, finding a rhythm in his heartbeat, and trying to match his breathing to her own. Every time she found herself getting to be embraced by the tall prince, it always felt like a special event that time stood still for. “You're a really good travelling companion, you know?” He coyly smiled.

"Mhm? Is it because I'm a walking campfire?" 

"Definitely one of the reasons,” she said, plainly. “I'd be frozen without you."

"I've saved you from freezing to death on...two occasions, yes?" He asked sarcastically.

"Three! Right now counts." The prince chuckled, and Link was surprised as his rather sharp fingernails attempted and succeeded to tickle her sides.

"Prince!" She said breathlessly, "Stoooop!"

He peppered her neck and face with little kisses, and pulled back to meet her eye-to-eye, smiling widely.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought myself to be holding you, the quiet bodyguard that scared me as a child.” Link blushed deeply, and her hand idly found Sidon’s, their fingers intertwining together.

“I would say I don’t remember myself back then, but I really am starting to. I wasn’t a fun person.” She said this as she looked up at his lizard-like eyes, his expression showed worry.

“Sure you were. You were a loving person who cared deeply for her friends, that shows a lot of character. Plus, you liked, um...you liked  _ tea _ .” Link cracked up laughing.

“Is that the diplomatic, treaty-signing charisma the four corners of Hyrule can look forward to?”

“Tsk, are you insulting my character, madam?” He said, aghast, but his expression fell back into giggles as Link felt herself smiling at his goofiness. “You were a wonderful person, and you still are.” He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. “You left such a lasting impression with Lady Impa that it seems that she remembers you so vividly.”

“I guess she was my best friend back then.”

“What a companion you must have been, my love.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks a lot for reading! If you liked the chapter, or the fic in general, please comment! Comments are my life blood!   
> I've been taking little breaks from writing, finding that it helps me get a bit more direction. 
> 
> I love you all c:


	25. She's the cutest girl in Hyrule.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Sidon chapter! Link and Sidon are welcomed by the chill of the northern tundras, and learn a bit about the people who call it home.

Sidon awoke to a draft, a creeping chill that had seeped its way through since the night had blossomed into morning. Link was asleep, curled around him with her shirt half hiked up her body from tossing and turning. 

It must have been freezing during the night, and she couldn't stay still. He found himself looking at her belly button that peeked through the blankets; a cute and symmetrical oval that was barely sunken into her tummy. He pulled her shirt down, and placed a finger on one of her ears, the tips were quite cold. He couldn't bear to make her deal with the freezing temperatures any longer, so he gave her forehead a soft kiss before carefully pulling himself out of bed to fetch her a coat from the stables.

Link nestled in to where the prince had been laying, the warmth of his side made her smile in her sleep. He could hear people outside chatting, Link must have placed Ruta close to the Hebra stable. The prince sleepily wrapped his makeshift coat around his back, and assumed he'd be meeting some rather confused traders.

He'd never experienced such cold climate before, though it didn't seem to bother him as much as he thought it would. Zora tended to have less of a sensitivity to the cold, yet their people tended to prefer warmer waters than what Hebra most likely had in store. Sidon placed his hand on Ruta, and gave a mental note of thanks to the beast.

The morning sun was intense as it dilated his sleepy eyes, a rather warm ray of light paired with the bitingly cold morning wind fought for dominance against his skin. He noticed his breath, visible as he exhaled, but he was paying too much mind to a different sight to completely process it. There on the horizon was the Hebra mountains; a seemingly endless expanse of snow capped ridges that caused Sidon to feel small and insignificant by comparison, even from such a far distance away. 

Everything he was seeing, the vertical expanse went on for miles; he could even feel the thinness of the air around him, such a view probably meant they were at a rather high altitude. The stable was exactly similar to the one nearest the wetlands, a crudely made horsehead was comically protruding from the gigantic tent that served as a makeshift inn for travelers, and a fenced-in yard served as a stable for horses, the ones currently in it were bundled close to each other for warmth. The people of the stable were quite the same, fraternizing around several fires, sitting on animal pelts in the cold, damp, half-dead grass. To his west, the sight of Vah Medoh floated ominously over the gigantic conical rocky spire that the Rito people called their village.

One by one the assorted Hylian and Rito people sitting near the crackling fires craned their heads over to him as he approached. All of their eyes were on him, so he thought it appropriate to speak to all of them at the same time.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Prince Sidon of the Zora people!"

"D'you come here in that thing?" An older Hylian man asked grumpily.

"Yes, actually. But it means you no harm, Ruta is actually quite friendly!"

"Uh-huh. Just as friendly as that one, I gather." The man grumbled and vaguely gestured at Medoh, and Sidon chewed his lip nervously. 

"I just wanted to know where I could get a jacket! You all seem to be quite bundled, no?" A meek male voice came out of the crowd, enthusiastic yet shy.

"I sell them!" A tall, young, Hylian man with a gigantic backpack and a chestnut brown bowl-cut approached the prince. He wore a large coat, brown leather with billowing feathers covering the inside of the hood. He backed a bit as soon as he realized how tall Sidon was, and made a nervous clicking sound.

"Ya'know, I  _ dooon't  _ know if I have your size, though."

"It's not for me, actually! It's for a Hylian about this tall." He held a hand to his own chest, and the man nodded.

"Oh, yeah, one sec!" He set his backpack down and began rummaging through it. 

"What brings a Hylian to sell Rito feathered coats?" Sidon asked curiously, trying to avoid making eye contact with the travellers who still gave him curt glares.

"I actually get paid to sell them! Nekk, the tailor who makes ‘em and I kinda have an agreement." 

"A travelling trader, I take it?"

"Oh yeah! I just kinda got here and settled in recently, matter of fact! Might stay a bit longer than I usually do at other settlements." He stood, holding a sturdy brown leather jacket lined with sleek looking feathers on the inside. "This'll be a good size, I think! I'm Beedle by the way!" He held out a hand, and Sidon shook it. He was certainly enthusiastic and polite, quite a warm personality among the colder stares he has gotten so far that morning. 

Sidon exchanged a hefty chunk of rupees for the thick jacket, a fairly understandable price for something with so much effort put into it.

"So, you ride the giant divine beast? Why?" Beedle asked nervously, pointing a finger at Ruta.

"Uh, oh goodness, how to answer such a question. Well, my companion and I tamed Ruta. She met up with me at my own domain, and we plan to tame them all--” he pointed at Vah Medoh that loomed above, “and then, we're-"

"You're going to fix Medoh?” The wiry trader smiled. “Is your companion blonde haired? A head shorter than me? Has a knack for fixing giant monsters?" Sidon nodded slowly. 

"Yes, actually! That sounds just like her!"

"I'm really glad, then! The last time I saw Link she was headed to Kakariko."

"How do you two know each other?"

"Ah, well, I'm a trader! I trade with people! But Link, she's kinda hard to forget, though." Sidon quirked his brow, and spoke with a hint of delight in his voice, a curiosity that he couldn’t contain.

"Oh, do go on." Beedles face showed shyness for a quick moment, a strange emotion for someone so chipper and animated.

"The last time I saw her, I just...I've thought about her a lot since! She made me laugh, she was really sweet, she's cute! I was hoping to talk to her more, you know? She left in such a hurry." Sidon squealed internally, not with any specifically pure emotion, just a deluge of suppressed giggles and excitement. 

_ Absolutely, she's cute. She's the cutest girl in Hyrule. _

"She's been nothing but perfect since her and I have been traveling together. She’s wonderful to talk to."  _ This guy has a crush on Link, by Hylia that’s great.  _ Sidon squeezed the thick coat in his hands. "Ah, I should go give her this, she'll freeze if I don't." Beedle mock-shooed him away, wearing a polite smile.

"Go! I'll be around! Tell her Beedle said hi! Also um, you know, don’t mind the stares you get here. Your scholar got here, he got the same thing." Sidon frowned, it was no surprise that a settlement on the opposite side of Lanyru would be off put by a race they haven't seen in a hundred years, yet the thought of one of his people receiving less than a warm welcome left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

Sidon could barely contain his giggles as he walked back into Ruta, carrying her coat to her still sleeping body. Sidon sat on their bed, and spoke quietly.

"Hey, Link." Her eyes fluttered open slowly, the cool pools of blue never failed to take Sidon's breath away. She smiled, barely awake.

"My prince," she whispered as she stretched, pulling her blankets up to her eyes. "You're so handsome." Sidon smiled, holding out her new jacket for her.

"Here, my love." The prince laid the folded leather coat against his pillow. "Your ears were freezing this morning." She sat up on her knees and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and practically sleepily tackled him from his side, giving him half-awake kisses.

"You’re too nice to me, Sidon." She whispered in a sweet and velvety tone that sent a delightful shiver down his spine.

"I hope you never tire of it, my love. I couldn't possibly watch you shake in your sleep like that anymore." She leaned back on her knees, and grabbed her coat. 

"It's really pretty. And feathery."

"Your friend sold it to me." He felt it hard to not immediately tell her what Beedle said about her.

"Friend?" Sidon nodded, trying to suppress a wild smile.

"Mm, Beedle, I believe his name was." Her eyes shot open.

"No way! I thought he stayed around Kakariko! I guess he really did try to expand!" Sidon felt his attempts to contain his laughter failing miserably. "What's so funny?" 

"Nothing!" He chirped, darting his eyes from her and attempting to hide his smiling mouth with a hand. 

"Oh, c'mon, tell me," she said sweetly, resting a hand on his forearm. Sidon felt his heartstrings pulled when she spoke so lovingly like that. He watched Link as she pulled her jacket around her arms; it fit superbly, a thick layer of protection for such a fair and sensitive skinned girl.

"He called you cute, and he said he was hoping to talk to you more." Link's eyes widened.

“ _ WHAT?”  _ She slapped his arm, and tried to hide her beet red face. “You’re lying!”

"Really, I'm not!" Link held the coat sleeves over her face, trying to hold back a myriad of hysterical giggles.

"What does that mean?! Does he like me or something? Sidon--" she paused, stifling her laughter, "-- prince you told him we're dating, right?"

“Link, I couldn’t tell him, I couldn’t! He was just so happy to hear about you, I can't simply crush someone's spirit like that!” 

"Sidon _! That means he's gonna hit on me! _ " 

"Hey, when I was followed by that fanclub I told you about? I had to reject much less polite and friendly people!" Link huffed, and made a noise one could only describe as a giggle of agony.

"I’m not an expert at talking to people, though! I just started talking like two weeks ago!” The prince held a contemplative finger to his chin.

“Hm. Well, why not try and subtly show him, without words?” She frowned and cocked her head.

“So, you want me to try and like...be touchy with you?” Sidon nodded.

“Not overly so, but I feel like it would work. He’d get the idea.” Link affixed her gaze out of the opened stairway of Vah Ruta.

“Woah, I can see the mountains from our bed.”

“Oh, you should see it all of it, the whole view is  _ dizzying _ .” He watched her as she slipped her boots on, and pulled the feathery hood over her head.

“Do I look cozy enough?” She said as she hooked her sword onto her belt; a weapon she hasn’t touched since the two tamed Rudania. Her coat was slumped on one shoulder, her hair was messily hugging around her face from sleeping on it, and her eyes had bags still weighing them down, but through it all, he saw her soft and waiting smile, and his heart melted.

“You look...you look very cozy, my love.” 

“That robe you made only makes you look like a cult member at night, it’s kinda cute on you during the day.” Sidon looked down, the asymmetrically sewn together sleeves left much to be desired.

“You think so? I’ll be sure to keep my blood sacrifices strictly to a nighttime basis, then.” He chuckled to himself. “I was thinking I’d do some pelt shopping in Rito village and try to make something more substantial out of the base.” 

“C’mon, then. Let’s go!” She motioned for him to follow, and the two stepped down the stairs of Ruta. Link gasped as they walked out into the brisk morning weather, squinting her eyes at the bright sun that shone uncovered from a cloudless sky. “It’s so pretty out here!” She hopped down the stairs and turned around. “I can see my breath, prince!” Sidon smiled a toothy grin as the girl exhaled into the morning air, yet she took pause as she saw the Divine Beast hovering threateningly over Rito village. “So that’s what Medoh looks like up close.” 

“Yes, it is.” Link glanced back to Sidon for a moment, and held her hand over her brow to get a better look at the bird-like beast. 

"How do people live with it flying above them all the time?" Sidon frowned.

"Stressfully, most likely." It was hovering via large metal rotors that were built into its stone, yet like the rest of Shiekah machines, there was no sign of wear or tear on it, save for the inky blackness of Ganon’s mire emanating from the propellers. “We may want to go speak with their elder, we can’t just drag it out of the sky without letting them know.” Link nodded.

The two walked over to the slightly less full campfires near the stables, smaller parties Sidon saw earlier gathering on their horses and leaving on the half frozen trail from a long night’s stay.

The small Hylian stayed close to Sidon, still shivering slightly, and gravitated them both to a fire half-surrounded by people.

“Heya, Link!” The friendly voice of Beedle came out of the shaded, candle lit tent of the stable, and he strode out onto the muddy trodden ground. Link slinked a bit back toward Sidon, and the prince tried to hold back a laugh.

“Hey, Beedle! It’s been a while!” She weakly said, holding up a hand and waving. “Did you ever go to Kara Kara?” 

“Nope! The folks at the Riverside stable told me there’s not enough traders here! Annnd they were right.” Beedle paused, blowing hot air into his gloves. “You two want a drink? I have a hot kettle inside!” Link perked up.

“Yes! That’d be really great! I’m already freezing!”

Sidon sat at a round wooden table, the chair barely able to handle his weight as it buckled against the hay-covered planks of the floor. Beedle brought a well worn kettle, beaten and scratched on its sides and poured the two each a mug of hot water. 

“You want some tea?” Link shook her head at the polite trader. 

“I already have some!” She placed one of the many tea bags Sidon gave her down into her mug, and looked up at the prince, his breath catching at her cute reddened nose barely illuminated in the dim room. “Thank you, though.” Beedle held up a hand. 

“It’s no problem. For you?” The trader moved his gaze to Sidon. 

“Hm? What do you have?” 

“I have black tea, green tea, and these little coffee bags from Hateno!” Sidon cocked his head, remembering the last time he had coffee. He really enjoyed it. 

“Sure, I’ll have some coffee!” Beedle smiled warmly, and handed the prince a little bag with a string attached, and he dipped it into the steaming tin mug.

“So, Link! How was taming that giant elephant?” Link intertwined her fingers around her cup like people gathering around a fire, and spoke quietly. 

“It went alright, actually. I was stuck in the domain for a while, but I really didn’t mind at all.” Link gave Sidon a little wink, and he felt himself smiling. Whenever Link was nervous, she had a tendency to speak more quietly, a nearly breathy whisper that further hid her rather androgynous timbre; perhaps a habit from before she spoke in the first place, yet Sidon could only hear it as angelic.

“How is it in the domain?” Sidon perked up to speak, but noticed he was talking specifically to Link. He wasn’t very good at hiding his intent, his body was leaning specifically toward her.

“Really nice. Once the rain cleared up, it got really warm and sunny. I think they’re taking tourists now, right prince?” Sidon chuckled, Link’s expression showed a bit of desperation as if she were asking him for help with her eyes.

“Yes, as a matter of fact! They’re trying to get people to understand that the trail is no longer dangerous, also the elders want to make money.” Beedle rocked back in his chair a bit, and blew more hot air into his gloves with his hands cupped over his face.

“Hah! Before the calamity, Rito village's most popular commodity was Tabantha wheat, but now, they use their feathers to make coats, and they get much more tourism that way!”

“I’ll be sure to tell the elders to start carving boats, they’re greedy enough to consider it, I assure you.” Link giggled at the princes comment, holding a hand over her face trying to hide her dorky grin. He wished she wouldn’t hide that smile, the way her teeth glimmered and the way her cheeks flushed brought the sun itself to shame. It was by this time that Beedle caught on, a small frown flickered on his expression as he watched Link look up at the prince. Seeing such a happy guy get his heart crushed brought the prince no lasting joy, but there was something oddly satisfying about people knowing Link was his, and his only. Sidon took a drink of his steeping coffee. 

It was bitter, acidic, and a tad fruity. Seagrass tea, although not quite as caffeinated, was similar; a collection of aromatics and herbs that was signature to the Zora people. He found himself loving every sip more and more. Beedle was a bit more withdrawn, yet didn't miss a beat with conversation, and spoke again.

"What's living in the Divine beast like?" Link looked up at Sidon, a knowing smile stretched across her face, and looked back at Beedle.

"I really like it. It's comfy."

"It doesn't throw ya around when it walks?" He asked as he took a sip of what looked to be hot water.

"Not at all," The prince responded, "unless we're going over a hill, we can barely tell we're moving."

"That's really neat!" Beedle said as he leaned forward. "The travelers here talked about it all morning. They seemed to be a little split on how they feel about it."

"Do any of them know about Rudania yet?" Link asked quietly, much to Beedles surprise.

"I don't think so, did you...?"

"We tamed that one, too." Beedle barked a quick laugh.

"No way! Three of four? How'd you get it off of Death Mountain?" 

"We shot it with a laser." Sidon said.

“You what?! That sounds dangerous!”

“Oh, it was.” Sidon mumbled while staring into his reflection in his coffee, recalling an exciting story with an excruciating memory attached; the memory of his precious girl nearly split in two, if not for him saving her life. Link seemed to notice the princes change of tone, as he felt her nudge him with her leg. He looked over to her, and met her worried eyes. She looked so beautiful, so  _ alive _ in that moment in that little dingy tent, dust particles surrounding her and twinkling like stars. That  _ thing  _ that infested Rudania was dead, and here she was, breathing, with her extraordinary blue eyes glistening by lantern light, unafraid for her own safety. 

Oh, by the greenery of Farore, Link was  _ okay _ . Whether she was smiling, or laughing, or being a brat, it didn't matter; she was  _ there  _ with him, able to laugh at his dumb jokes, able to speak to him in that angelic tone he loved so dearly, able to keep any self destructive thought away from him simply by being near. 

She wasn't killed by the same thing that took his sister from him, and in that epiphany, his eyes began to well with emotion. Link spoke softly, her voice nearly quivering in worry.

"Prince? You okay?" He inhaled a sharp breath, and did his best to collect himself.

_ Come, get yourself together, Sidon. _

“That I am." He smiled at the confused girl, cursing himself as he felt a warm tear fall down his right cheek. Sidon set his elbows on the table, making it rock a little under his weight. “So we found that the Gorons are underground for their own safety, and should be emerging as soon as they can. Tell anyone around here to keep an eye out, okay?” Beedle gasped.

“Really? Yeah, no, I’ll do what I can!”

“Good.” From the corner of his eye, he could see Link still glancing at him worriedly, yet he felt that returning her glare would just make him even more emotional. “So, how is Rito village?” 

“It’s um...it’s hectic!” Sidon cocked his head confusedly. He could only assume the main subject of worry would be the divine beast. 

“How so?”

“Ah, well, I haven’t been here  _ too  _ long, there’s just a lot of movement in and out of the village. Plus, the um…the Rito scholars haven’t really gotten along with yours, also."

"Oh, really? Is there some sort of dispute?"

"It just seems like they think they don't  _ need  _ the scholar." Sidon clicked his fingernails against the old wooden table. Surely, Sidon expected stubbornness from the Rito people, but the Royal family specifically entrusted the Zora scholars to act as re-establishment in the event of a post-calamity world, he only assumed every corner of Hyrule would  _ know _ this by now.

"I'll speak with them." Sidon took a pause to drink the dregs of his coffee. "I don't fully blame them, but it's important. It's by the Royal families decree. Disputes like this can lead to a lot of extraneous political back and forths that lead nowhere."

Link's leg brushed against his own, he practically felt her worried stare digging into his soul.

"Sidon, I could have sworn I saw you cry in there." Link said nervously as the two walked across a stony natural bridge to the rocky spire of Rito village. 

"I just...I was just lost in thought. About you." He felt her hand gasp his, and their fingers interlocked.

"In a bad way, or a good way?" Sidon smiled down at her.

"In a very good way. Sometimes I just get reflective, and this time, I couldn't stop thinking about how happy I am that you're safe." Link leaned against him lovingly.

"I always feel safe around you, Sidon." 

The village was in the middle of a canyon, acting as a sort of natural moat around the mountainous town, not unlike the domain, and the only route across was this somewhat thin yet sturdy looking trail. From there, the prince could see the base of the village; a circle of shops around the entire ground level, and the cone shaped peak was peppered with homes dug into the rock.

"Hey, Sidon?" 

"Hm?"

"I can't feel my face." Sidon chuckled, and looked down at her reddened cheeks. Just as quickly as she said this, the prince felt a rush of warm air, torches littered around the outskirts of the village were creating an invisible dome of heating for the Rito and Hylian traders alike.

The stares he got from the Rito shop owners were not unlike the ones he received earlier that morning, and certainly didn't make him feel welcome. There were little cabin-like shops that had assorted Rito-esque designs with things like waterskins, bags, coats, beaded wooden jewelry; it seemed like their most valuable commodities were things they could build with their hands.

"See anything you like, Link?"

“Not really. Everything is pretty, though.” Sidon couldn’t help but agree, the use of leather in most of their clothing showed not only expert tanning skills, but the small beads they used to accentuate some articles of clothing really made the rather dull browns pop. The few Hylians that were surrounding the shops were carrying multiple animal pelts slung around their backs and in carts, selling and haggling skins from animals hunted all across Hyrule.

“Look, Sidon!” Sidon followed Links finger as it pointed to a few small Rito children. “They’re adorable! How do they sing like that?” The small group of three children were harmonizing together, puffed red cheeks singing the distinct birdsong that the Rito were known for traditionally. It was discordant, but strangely soothing.

“They are cute, aren’t they?” Sidon caught a flash of color from across the way, the specific hue that he recognized as a common Zora skin color, a pale light blue. Sidon recognized him, someone he’s seen before and could have sworn he was of a different profession. “There’s the scholar.” 

“Should we go talk to him? He looks busy.” Link asked, and Sidon nodded, noting the scholars stressed expression as he argued with a rather upset Rito.

“No, please, I can't keep repeating myself, Ponti, I-” The man Sidon recognized as Kayden, an apparent scholar he thought was the owner of the Seabed inn in the domain looked at the prince in surprise. He set a pen in a leather jacket pocket, he was nearly completely covered head to toe in Hylian winter-wear.

“I wasn’t expecting you, Prince Sidon. What are you doing here?” Before he could respond, the Rito curtly interrupted.

“Meddling, is what he’s doing. As are  _ you _ .” The scholar blew a sigh out of his gills, Sidon could see the breath billow through the sides of his jacket.

“Please, let him answer.” He mumbled in a tone that suggested he’s been dealing with this rudeness for a while. 

“I’m here alongside my companion to tame the divine beast.”

“No kidding," Kayden exclaimed. "Okay, well you’d have to talk to-” 

“What business do your people have here?” The brown and white feathered Rito inquired loudly, pointing his narrow beak directly at the prince. He almost sounded like Muzu, a voice that oozed unfriendliness.

“By the Royal families decree, as a matter of fact. If-”

“Ah! the  _ deceased  _ Royal Family, yes, of course.” The Rito scholar held a feathery hand to his forehead. “Let’s follow orders from the dead!” Sidon’s brow shot up, and he held his tongue from further frustration. He felt for a moment that he could end this squabble by bringing up Zelda’s stasis, but then remembered how unbelievable that sounds; it would get him nowhere.

“It holds, I'm afraid. Royal law has held for millenia, and both parties have to come to an agreement to work together.”

“No, see, I don’t follow. We have  _ no _ need for re-education.” Sidon bit the inside of his cheek in frustration, and spoke a bit more loudly than before.

“On what grounds do you speak to royalty like you do? Are you the elder of this village?” 

The Rito huffed a quick and loud sigh, and his eyes shot daggers into the prince. Wordlessly, he stormed off, and the tension decompressed like a popped octo balloon. Sidon could see Link staring at him from the corner of his eye, and met her gaze for just a moment; she looked strangely mesmerized. The Zora scholar chuckled a bit to himself.

“Gah, I wish I had that power. Hi, Prince Sidon. I'm terribly sorry for all of that.” He held out a hand, and Sidon shook it confidently.

“You’re just doing your job, and it’s not  _ theirs _ to make your life more miserable.” There was a pause. “So, I had no idea you were a scholar!” The man nodded. 

“I am. Studying is second nature, innkeeping is my first. Kodah is looking after the inn, and our daughter, while im gone.”

“I’m sure they’ll come around soon, you know.” Kayden shook his head, and shrugged. 

“The Rito?" Sidon nodded. "Sure hope you’re right.” Sidon gestured to the small Hylian girl next to him, who was wiping a bit of snot off of her face with a jacket sleeve.

“This is Link! The hero of the domain!” Link dumbly waved, and smiled at the scholar. She looked so  _ cute,  _ even when she was all red faced and cold, struggling to keep her snot off of her face.

“Hello there, Link. Im Kayden." 

“Blegh. Hi.” The scholar laughed.

“Yeah, you should try being outside at night here, it’s the worst. The sun is the only thing keeping me from freezing into a block of ice.” The scholar pulled a folded handkerchief out of his pocket, and held it for her. “Here.” Link smiled, and graciously took the scholars gift.

“Thank you.” He waved a dismissive hand as she blew her nose.

“No problem.”

“Is the elder anything like that?” Link asked with a stuffy nose, and Kayden shook his head.

“Not at all. Really friendly guy, if a bit of a pushover." Sidon immediately thought of his father, without really knowing why. "He's not called the elder, by the way, he's the village chieftain.”

"Does the chieftain take visitors?" Sidon asked. 

"If you're planning on getting that out of the way?--" he pointed at Vah Medoh looming directly above, "-I'm sure he'd make some time for a visit."

“Why don’t you come along with us, I’d like to hash things out to make your stay a bit easier on you.” Kayden stepped aside, gesturing for them to follow.

“I don’t think it’ll get any easier for me here, but you can try.” They began walking along the hollowed out stone pathway up the spire. From such heights, Sidon felt he could see the entire realm from where he stood, the two red beams from Rudania and Naboris aiming for Hyrule castle were visible in the sky, and he found himself scanning for Death Mountain, or even Mount Lanyru. Another thing of note were the usually audible and sociable birds completely ignoring the surrounding village, a considerable distance away from what would be a wonderful spot for airborne life.

“It’s like a jail cell, don’t you think?” Sidon asked quietly, nudging Link who was just as in awe of her surroundings as he was.

“It’s like Ruta’s rain all over again.” Link said as she leaned into the prince. When lady Impa told them of Medohs presence over Rito village, Sidon assumed the corrupted beast wouldn’t be so as terrifying as it seemed, but just being there for such a small amount of time, it felt like the whole village of Rito were in a chokehold; a silent fight for dominance of their own village. 

“Look, prince.” Link pointed to a slice of the outskirts of the canyon, a long patch of snow flattened and surrounded by evergreen trees. A lineup of tall Rito people stood, armed with short wooden bows aiming at various bright red and white targets placed randomly in the forests.

“Yeah, that’s where the Rito army trains. They’re just far enough away from Medoh to fly safely when practicing their archery.” One of the archers slung his bow around his back, and practically kicked up a windstorm with his wings as his body gracefully shot into the air. He hovered in a spot about ten feet off the ground, and just as quickly, threw his bow back into his arms, letting loose three arrows in rapid succession into a target before letting the bow go and fluttering back to the ground. Both Sidon and Link let out amazed gasps at the spectacle. Sidon clenched his hands into fists and looked at the scholar.

“What  _ was  _ that? I’ve never read of the Rito utilizing archery midair!” Kayden’s eyes seemed to sparkle as he responded.

“The Rito champion perfected it, the army followed suit. I found this just as interesting, actually. Revali made history, he defined their fighting style.” He watched another Rito soldier dart into zig-zag formations across the treetops, stopping occasionally to release quick and deadly arrows into a target. “What makes this possible is an interesting story. From what I understand, Revali had his bow shortened, and didn’t stop training until he could shoot five arrows in midair. Then, he acquired a bow of longer length, and wouldn't come back to the village until he had knocked five targets in one rise. He kept adding heavy metal beads to the bow to make it harder to fly with, yet as he kept surpassing himself, taking the beads off made him easily able to surpass archers in the entire fleet. The Rito now do the same, just with weighted rings around the curves of the bow.” The scholar exhaled a thoughtful sigh. “They look at him pretty highly; post-calamity Rito village sees him as a revolutionary, a symbol of independence.” 

“Like a martyr?” Link asked.

"Yeah, at least, it seems that way." Sidon felt a familiar pang of stress washing over him again. As nice as it was to see the strong will of the Rito people, he hoped it didn't push them further into their already prevalent xenophobia, as the passing of his sister nearly did to his own people. While the Zora people at large almost worshipped Mipha upon her passing, the Zora Elder council fell into hateful hushed rumors of the Shiekah that still hover in political disputes, and pass through their lips like poison barbs when they need someone to blame. He could still remember the feeling of his sister's death being used as a talking point to further spread their vitriol. Sidon tried his best to ignore these thoughts, brushing them away with the chilly breeze.

"We're here," Kayden said as he motioned to an entryway carved into the rocky wall near the top of the spire. The room was warm as they passed the red cloth serving as a door, lit faintly by small pine-pitch lamps that radiated heat, and a pleasant fruity odor. The smell reminded him of Link. The chieftain was sitting on a rug in the back of the room reading from a thick leather-bound book, a pipe was billowing tufts of smoke from his owl-like beak. The light tan walls stood unadorned, like they had just been chiseled the day before. The grey-feathered heavyset chieftain looked up, and readjusted the glasses on his beak. 

"Oh, hello." His voice had a natural tremble to it. Not quite a full shake, but a small tremor that made his words all sound inquisitive along with the slow pacing of his speech. "Nice to see you again, Kayden. Who's the tall fellow?" While his beak couldn't do much to smile, this was more than made up for with his eyes curling up in a warm and welcoming greeting. 

“This is the heir to the Zora throne, Prince Sidon--”

“Hello there!” The prince smiled as he held out a hand. 

“--And Link, the hero of Hyrule.” The fluffy chieftain chuckled heartily. 

“Oho! You ar-” He paused as he held his wing-like hand for the prince to shake, and looked the Hylian up and down. “You’re the same Link? The very same?" His hand retracted, and he adjusted his glasses once again. Link held up her hand to speak. “You haven’t aged a day, boy!” Sidon cringed as she placed her hand back down, and her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. The elder squinted for a moment, viewing her as he readjusted the pipe that was held squarely between his beak. “Ah. My, where is my mind? I could have sworn you were a boy when I knew you last, it seems these gaps in my memory grow wider and wider." He flicked a match, the sulfuric odor wafting around the still air, holding the flickering flame to a pine-pitch covered torch, and set it gently back into its sconce next to him. "I'm Kaneli, this village's chieftain. So, what brings such dazzling company to my abode today?" Sidon spoke for the group, as it seemed all eyes gravitated towards him.

"I'd like to acquire your blessing, Kaneli; to tame Vah Medoh." The old chieftain's choked on the smoke from his pipe, making his feathers ruffle and stand on end.

"You do, do you?" He coughed up a cloud of smoke, it smelled of fresh wood and sweet leather. "Not even the proudest soldiers have come to me saying such things, you know of the risk it has on the village, do you not?" 

"We do," Sidon began, "but we have a way to pull it from the sky before it can attempt anything." The old man knocked on his own chest, calming himself from his fit.

"We've run flat up against a wall, trying our best to ground it has only resulted in us being punished for it. It almost feels as if it hates us more than we, it." His grim tone still embodied that inquisitive waver. He pulled his pipe from his beak. "You said 'pull it from the sky?'"

"That I did, Chieftain."

"Where do you acquire such a long rope to do so?" Sidon heard the recognizable sliding of Link’s slate uncoupling with its holster.

“Well, it’s not really a rope, per se. It, just like Vah Medoh, is by ancient Shiekah design.” Link sat down her sword, and as she held it in the air with magnesis, Sidon could taste a strange metallic flavor on the tip of his tongue from being so close to the humming orange beam. The chieftain exclaimed something guttural, most likely a curse word in Rito.

“Well,” He drew a deep, reflective breath, “Isn’t that strange? And you really think this would work?” Link let go of her sword, and placed her slate back in its holster.

“I think it will. This feature was given to us a while ago for this exact purpose. This magnetic beam was used to build the Divine Beasts, it can pick the heaviest things up with ease.” The old man chuckled, his dark blue eyes scanning Sidons for any shred of dishonesty. 

“In my earlier years, I would have shooed you away, and I think the soldiers that line our barracks would still take the opportunity to do so. It pains me to say, but my people don’t respect me like they used to, so you may find some opposition, but you're very welcome to try.”

“You have my thanks, Chieftain Kaneli, and my utmost respect.” Sidon looked at the Zora scholar, who was shifting his footing uncomfortably. “Your scholars and my own have been at odds with each other, as well.” The old man took the glasses off of his beak with a shaky, feathery hand.

“I see. It’s hard to find a day where my people aren’t at odds with each other, and I’m deeply sorry that you’ve been experiencing the same. They’re not bad people, I assure you, they work hard, they love deeply, we Rito are just argumentative by nature. It’s the Divine Beast above that makes them that much more on edge; it causes their squabbles to escalate into fights.”

“So, you think that the taming of the beast could help?” Sidon asked, and the old Rito chuckled.

“You won’t find the fire taken out of them, but it may make them go a little easier on you, Kayden.” The scholar shook his head, and spoke politely.

“It’s just that they want to scribe the books I have, and that’s all. I can’t get them to pay attention in any of my classes.” The elder took the pipe from his mouth and held it, rubbing it with a thumb.

“To some extent, they may have a point, perhaps. Our trade has changed, we don’t just haggle crops anymore. You know what you’re talking about, Kayden, I know you do, but perhaps they wish to seek compromise.”

“Pardon me, but couldn’t they couldn’t just tell me that?” The Rito chieftain chuckled knowingly again, and the shaky vibrations of his voice matched more carefree tones.

“Argumentative by nature. When I was younger, and the Calamity was fresh, war strategies against the guardians were argued, not discussed. You see, to my people, if there is no passion, no anger, there is no will.” Kayden’s expression was locked in a stern indifference, a few seconds of time passed to let his words steep in his mind, and he spoke rather bluntly.

“I was just given permission to yell at my peers, wasn’t I?” Kaneli laughed heartily.

“Yes, yes you were!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hiatus! I've been takin a lil bit of a break from writing, but I'm definitely not done! Thank you so much for sticking around to read!
> 
> I love you all!


	26. Let's get you out of the snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gallant duo attempt brave the icy cold to find a good spot to tame Vah Medoh, but something interrupts them.

Link followed behind the prince, who patted the scholar on the back as they walked out of the Chieftains home to the bitterly cold spire. Link's face grew numb again, the only sensation she could feel was painful tingling on the tips of her ears and nose, and she pulled the fluffy hood of her jacket over her face to try and escape the nipping pinpricks.

“You find any more opposition, you come to me, okay? We’ll be here for a day or so, most likely.” Kayden smiled brightly, the happiest smile she'd seen him wear.

“I appreciate that, Prince Sidon."

"You, dunce." The Rito scholar, Ponti, spoke with a rolled up map in his arm, walking up confidently from the trail up the spire and giving a judging glare to Kayden. "Did you  _ mark _ my map?! Are you out of your puny mind?" Kayden nearly fell back in on himself again, but his expression became rigid and stern, and he spoke at Ponti's raised volume.

"I  _ did,  _ actually. You'll need that information tomorrow for the lesson."

" _ Pointless.  _ I won't be there." 

"Pity," Kayden spoke with a venomous tongue, something Link would call uncharacteristic, if not for the enjoyment he seemed to be taking from the exchange. "I'll find someone else. If you don't show up, you won't be missed." The Rito growled.

"No. If your idiocy gets any more of our maps marked, I need to be there to stop your hand."

"Make your mind up, then, I can't hold your place for you in my classes. You're an adult, act the part, or someone less childish will take your place." With another annoyed grunt, Ponti spoke more softly.

"Just don't mark anything else without me, understood? I'll watch over you, if you insist on your  _ scribbling. _ " Link saw a hair of a smile crawl across Kayden's lips. 

"So be it. But if you don't, I'll oversee the rest of this myself _. _ " Ponti left in a huff, and just as he turned the corner, the Zora scholar exhaled and began giggling to himself.

"That was amazing! Bravo, Kayden!" Sidon said proudly, Kayden clapped his hands together as he laughed.

"Ah, I kinda get why our elders do that all the time. I feel so pumped up now!" Link giggled quietly to herself as the scholar and Sidon laughed together. Seeing the prince interact with his own people was always just a  _ bit  _ different from any other race, as it felt like Sidon could lean on any of his people like they were his family. In a way, Link felt that same comfort with the prince.

"You stay safe, okay?" Kayden nodded, walking away from the group.

"Yeah, of course. Thanks again, you two! Bye Link, you can keep the handkerchief!" Link smiled, gripping the gift that she had in her coat pocket.

"Thanks, I think it froze in my pocket, so I can't give it back anyway!" The scholar chuckled.

"Gross!" Sidon turned to the Hylian, and gave her a playful nudge.

"That went well, I think!" Link nodded, and peeked her head out a bit from the warm, feathery hood of her coat.

"Where should we try to pull Medoh?" Sidon looked out into the vast mountains on the horizon, and scanned the evergreen forests and scattered tundra plains of Hebra.

"Eh, somewhere that doesn't have trees or wildlife. Like there, perhaps?" He pointed to a clearing dotted with a few flayed trees, a good distance from the canyon, almost a bit  _ too _ far.

"That's not too far?" Sidon cocked his head, and put a finger to his chin.

"Well, how close is too close? We can't risk Rito village getting hit."

"I just don't know how far we have to be for the beam to work." 

"We can always go check? See how we feel about the distance?" Link nodded, and felt her stomach growl. 

"Can we get something to eat first?" Sidon smiled a toothy grin, and held a hand out for her to hold.

"Absolutely."

"What do you have in the way of, say, something to line a coat with?" Sidon asked the pelt trader, a tall, goose-faced Rito man with bear traps hanging off of his wooden shops' beams, and various antlers hanging on the back walls.

"Your size? Hmm-" he scratched a furrowed eyebrow. "Probably a couple of wolf pelts- No! A bear pelt, if I'm being honest." While Sidon spoke with the man, Link was busy chewing on a tough piece of jerky she had gotten from another Rito shop. It was a far cry from the homely warmth of a hot meal, for sure, but the salty slices of beef were distinctly satisfying to tackle, each mouthful swallowed feeling like a primal victory.

“I think that will do, certainly.” Link watched as the prince slung a large bear pelt across his arm, and paid the man a generous amount of rupees.

“Try the jerky, Sidon. It’s really salty.” She held out a thick slab of meat, and he gingerly took it with his free hand. He had much less trouble biting into the dehydrated meat than she did, which wasn’t surprising, given his rather sharp teeth.

“That’s not bad! It’s much different than fish jerky.” She smiled and nudged him as they walked. 

“You guys made fish jerky?” Sidon nodded, and swallowed hard.

“Mm, well, when you’re forced to eat the same things for a hundred years, you start switching up your recipes fairly often. I had a phase where I  _ just  _ ate Hyrule bass jerky for about a year.” Link moved an errant strand of hair that was in her face.

“Well, you don’t have to be forced to eat just one thing anymore.” Sidon chuckled.

“I do sort of miss it, in some twisted way. Those flavors might remind me of being trapped in the domain, but they also make me think of how optimistic I had to be just to keep going.” Sidon paused after having said this. "Here, you can have the rest, my love." 

Link shook her head, her hands were already occupied as she pulled her slate from its holster and opened the map.

"No thanks, im full." Sidon shrugged the heavy bear pelt to resituate on himself, and he unceremoniously tossed the rest of the dried meat in his mouth. On the map, the area Sidon had pointed out a bit northeast of the village was there, the perfect spot to test their tether. As they walked out of Rito village, they found the air around them growing colder as they walked further from the large torches that kept the place so warm.

"You know, I may need to take this pelt back to Ruta before my shoulder falls off."

"I can go to the spot, if you want to bring Ruta around?" Sidon smiled.

"You think you'll be okay while I'm gone, hm?" Link giggled.

"Mhm!" She wrapped her arms around his robe covered middle in a hug. Even in the chilly atmosphere of Hebra, his stomach and chest were still so surprisingly warm.

"Hey, Sidon?" 

"Hmm? Yes, my dearest?" She shivered as her boyfriend's free hand was placed gently on her shoulder, and she felt her cheeks heat up. She had thought of this phrase, these three words so many times since she had met him.

"I love you." The words felt so right as they left her lips. In this confusing life, this small amnesia ridden ride she had only just begun to explore, she knew she loved him. He gripped her shoulder, and got down to one knee.

"And I love you, Link." He stole the breath from her lungs along with a kiss, and she only fell deeper for him as they sighed happily, their mouths intermingling together. 

The snow got deeper as she walked into the less frequently trodden ground, her ankles were beginning to feel the chill through her boots. It was here that the loud warbler birds were, the evergreen trees were cradling their nests in their needles. She found the greenery more populated as she got further into the nearly forest-like bundle of trees, the warblers loud chirps drowning her ears in sound.

_ This is it. _ She planted her feet firmly, and sighed. It wasn't completely ideal, there was a good amount of trees around her immediate vicinity, but the snowy clearing Sidon had pointed out was just outside, just far enough to safely drag the most likely struggling Medoh. It seemed  _ perfect,  _ she'd have to tell him he was right about the spot. Speaking of Sidon, Link's ears perked up to a rustling in the trees.

_ That was fast.  _ She expected the hooded figure of the Prince to emerge from the blankets of pine needles, but what she was greeted with, were three Rito soldiers.

"You the 'beast tamer'?" The tall Rito man spoke bitterly, his sleek grey feathers shined in the bright overhead sunlight as he navigated the ankle deep snow, walking towards her in long strides. She found it hard to respond, as his tone didn't sound serious, it sounded like it was coming from a place of ridicule. "C'mon, you a mute or somethin'?" Her jaw locked tight, and her teeth gritted together uncomfortably. The one on the right loosened his scarf, and Link glanced down at her own feet .

"Okay. Well a few scouts saw you and your tall friend going up the roost this morning." Grey feathers got close,  _ uncomfortably  _ close, and she could feel his eyes staring holes into her skull. "Rode in on that thing, hm? Coming here, talking to the old man, right? Does any of that sound familiar?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, and chilly air around her seemed to feel colder, still. The grey one held out a hand, close enough that Link felt his feathers brush her nearly numb cheek. "You should probably answer me." He said in a sickeningly casual tone. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Link grabbed the handle of the Blade Of the Eight, and in response, a Rito to the left of the grey soldier put a hand on his bow. The middle Rito shook his head. "Mm, you don't wanna do that, princess." Link felt her blood freeze in her veins.

"We're just trying to help." Grey feathers barked a quick laugh, which confused the Hylian. 

"Ohoho, you're a guy!?"

The two Rito next to him began to snicker.

The trees surrounding them felt like they were closing in on her, locking her from any chance of escape. The temperature went from bitingly cold, to uncomfortably hot as her mind struggled to make sense of what was going on. His words were spoken so sharply she could have sworn they drew blood; a dull pain that spread throughout her body. Link stuttered, thinking of every person she'd ever spoken to. Did they think the same about her voice?

"N-...no, I'm not." 

The grey Rito stepped forward, forcing her to fall in on herself as she took a careful step back.

"Yeah, you are!" Link felt a sharp pain to her jaw, and suddenly, gravity shifted beneath her, and she felt herself lying in the snow. Aside from her own heartbeat pounding against her eardrums, she heard the Rito soldiers laughing at her. "You can do Gerudos work, you can do the Zora's work, I don't care how much of a  _ saint _ you think you are, leave this village alone,  _ freak _ . Let us take care of our own problems." The air from her lungs was knocked out as the grey soldier kicked her in the stomach, yet, she felt too out of body in that moment to process any accompanying pain. Her mind drifted along with the sounds of the warblers among the trees, far away from this horrible place.

Her chest was kicked of its air once more, and she saw stars as she struggled to catch her breath.

A brief period of time passed, whether it was seconds, or minutes, that much wasn't too clear. The feeling was similar to the one she got when she spoke to the enigmatic spirit of Rhoam, when he battered her with information, when she barely even knew who she was. She felt the ground rumble ever so slightly, slowly, the rhythm of Ruta's steps shook the snow from the needles of the trees. 

"C'mon, boys, let's leave him." She stared at the sky, listening to the crunching of their feet in the snow grow quieter.

She felt so worthless. Her mind attempted to pull happier thoughts close to her, memories of Sidon, or Ashai and Vilia. These memories wouldn't come to comfort her, as her thoughts were caught up with noise, too full with nagging insecurity.

" _ Link! You around here?"  _ She heard the Prince say happily from a distance behind the trees. There was a small part of her that hoped he wouldn't find her. She heard him push through the needles, and Link attempted to get up to save face, yet found herself dizzily falling back over, almost doubling over at the pain in her stomach. 

" _Link!?"_ The prince's normally polite and soothing voice was rife with worry. "My love, y-" She tried not to keep eye contact, but his hand brushed over what she assumed was the bruise from the hit she had taken, and she met his gaze as she winced. "L...Link? Oh, my love, what happened? _Are you okay_?" It wasn't the question that hit her, but the realization that she didn't care if she was or not. Her tears fell hard, soaking the feathery hood of her jacket. "Link, how did you get hurt?" Link tried to speak, but felt herself cut short, as if her throat was constricted. 

"Link, you can tell me, I'm here to help you." Sidon's expression fell in a frenzy, as all he could do was watch as Link's tears fell from her cheeks. "Here, take my arm, let's get you out of the snow." He held his arm out to assist her, but in reality, he practically lifted her by himself. Her legs wobbled unsteadily, even as he propped her up against him, and she found her feet pulled from under her with care.

Link felt undeserving to be cradled in such gentle arms.

"We're going to Ruta, okay, my love?" Link could not push her voice to leave her throat, and hoped her small nod against his chest was an okay answer, because when she tried to speak, the memories of what had just transpired nipped at her feet like hungry dogs. He sat her down gently on their bed, and pulled a phial from their medical bag. Sidon's face drooped sadly at her bruise. Link winced at how badly the alcoholic tincture felt as the kind prince pressed a wet cloth of it against her face.

"I know it hurts," he said quietly, "that means it's doing its job." He patted her face dry with a clean cloth, and prepared a bandage for her. "When I was younger, they had the doctor put that stuff in my gills when I had gotten a rather nasty cut from a gaudy little decorative shell that got stuck inside of me." Link sniffled, and winced a bit in empathy. "Nasty, right? It felt like someone was sticking me with a rapier, I-" Sidon's eyes caught something, a bit of red creeping through the feather lining of her jacket. He darted his eyes to hers nervously, and tried to pull her shirt up a bit, but she held his hand from doing so. 

"Link, you're  _ bleeding _ , please…" She looked at him pleadingly, his worry was growing desperate on his face. "I apologize, my love, but I have to." He forcefully pulled her coat and shirt up, and again, Link couldn't find the energy or air in her to yell in protest; the only thing that came out was a wincing cry. The spots where she had been kicked had telling talon marks that drew fairly decent amounts of blood. Sidon gasped, and his irises shimmered with tears.

"Who... _ who did this to you?"  _ He spoke in an exasperated whisper, like a man who'd just had his soul punched in the gut. "I could have been there." No amount of air or force could will the words of reassurance she so desperately wanted to give to Sidon, the only thing she could do was break down further into tears. Sidon latched onto her, and muttered apologies grimly into her ear. "I love you so much, Link, I'm so, so sorry."

_ It's okay. _

_ " _ You needed me there, and I wasn't there."

_ You couldn't have known, prince! _

_ " _ What did they say to you?"

…

His words felt like hands dragging her by the ankles into that horrible place of thought. All she wanted was to distance herself from that point in time. 

"I don't know what holds your tongue, but you listen to me, okay?" Sidon pulled back from the girl, and Link felt a throbbing headache rock her brain around her skull. "I love you. No matter how much you talk. If there's any way you could relay what happened to me, I need to know who did this to you.” Sidon's voice grew aggravated near the latter half of that sentence, his worried eyes studied her for an answer, for any response, Link just numbly stared off at the rocky walls of Ruta. Sidon huffed to himself, loudly clicking his fingernails together. "Lift your shirt, sweet girl, I need to clean your stomach." Link obeyed, woozy at the sight of her blood that was daubing the insides of her jacket. 

"It wasn't the scholar, was it?" Link shook her head, inhaling sharply through her teeth as Sidon applied the tinted green alcoholic tincture to her wounds. "Couldn't have been any traders, right?" Link gave another quick response in the negative. 

"Was it the soldiers?' Links tears rushed back, dropping heavily onto her legs. "Oh, Link. Come here." Link pulled herself to him after he fastened the last bandage to her tummy, and her crying multiplied as she felt his assuring hand caress her hair. By Hylia, her head was  _ pounding _ . It felt like a mallet was knocking against the front of her skull with no reprieve. 

"Now, since most male Rito enlist, could you possibly tell me which one did this to you?" Sidon asked in a stern tone. Link hesitated, almost afraid of what the prince would do if he could put a face to her assaulter. Her attempts to speak only served to hurt her throat, so she thought of a different way to describe him. She plucked a feather from her coat, one that had a grey middle, and pointed a finger at the color.

"That's what his feather looked like?" Sidon frowned as she shook her head no. 

"Grey?" Link nodded. "He has grey feathers?" Link sniffled, nodding and plopping her hands down against his tummy, and felt her eyes sting with tears again. "Ahh, my pearl, it's okay. You won't have to deal with him or this village any longer." Link cocked her head, humming curiously. "What would you think about staying in Kakariko, while I tame this beast myself?" 

By all means,  _ no.  _ It was one thing for him to put himself in harm's way to save her when they tamed Rudania, but to take on an entire beast by  _ himself? _

"Listen, If this village's soldiers  _ assaulted  _ you for simply trying to help, I just…" He paused, taking a long breath. It was unlike him to offer up such a drastic plan, but it seemed fitting with how torn up he looked at her situation. "I don't want them to do more harm. I think it would be good for you to relax in Kakariko." Link's ears drooped sadly. "Hey, I'll be okay. You tamed Naboris all on you own, you powerful girl. I'm inspired by that bravery. I can do this. You deserve a break." Link sniffled, her eyes absolutely exhausted, and her bruises hidden by bandages were throbbing in pain. 

She felt a faint glow of comfort in Sidon's sharp nails carefully combing through her hair. 

"Sit up for one moment," he said quietly, and he grabbed a glass from their lone dresser, walking over to stand near the door, placing a hand against Ruta. He barely broke eye contact with her, giving her a worried smile as he filled a cup up with the spigot that he used to cool himself near death mountain.

"Here, you practically cried Lake Hylia." Link tipped the cup bottoms up, the cool sensation of the pure waters rejuvenated her aching chest. She must have been fairly dehydrated. Sidon sat back down into his place in the bed, which already had a mold in the mattress in his shape. “You spent a lot of your time in life silent, Link.” The room was quiet to allow his words to easily resonate in her aching mind. She slid her coat off to feel his warm skin against her shirt as she leaned up to him, and kicked her boots off. She was exhausted, and was more than willing to listen to what he had to say. He placed his hand against the wall behind him, and Ruta began walking, assumedly to Kakariko. 

She could have sworn he needed her slate, but she found herself constantly surprised at what the beast was capable of. Perhaps it remembered the way. 

“Are you physically incapable of speaking?” Link shrugged, looking up at her boyfriend and pointing to her throat. “Does it hurt when you try?” She nodded sadly.

“Did they say anything about…” She gripped his arm, and gave him a sad, yet stern look that told him more than what he needed to know. “ Is that why your voice eludes you?” All she could give him was a sad smile. “You’ll find it again, I know you will. Kakariko is more than pleasant company.” Sidon took her hand, she reveled in how his gentle hand dwarfed hers as he ran a thumb over her fingers.

“I know I resort to storytelling a lot of the time, but there was this incident when I was young.” Link perked up, noticing the crunching of Ruta’s feet in the snow fade as it walked into the bare dead grass of Tabantha’s tundras. “I was very much into embroidery at the time, this hobby ‘cut into my studying time’ more often than not, but my father never minded. It was the Elders that did their best to put a stop to it. I remember classmates complimenting me on my work, huddling around me whenever they saw me doing something other than actual assignments. I had a small group of acquaintances, so to speak.” Link brushed some hair out of her face, and snuggled in closer to Sidon. “Oh!- Cuddly girl! Ah, there’s that smile I love.” The prince pinched her cheek as Link felt her lips stretch into a smile for the first time in what felt like forever. Link nudged him to continue.

“Ah, okay, so, even though I was told so much that my work was impressive, I never really believed it myself. To some extent, I still don’t. I always compared myself to Mipha, I always wanted to be just as good as her, the girl whose hands were considered blessed by the goddesses. To think that I put myself to such high standards. But one day, I was told by an elder that I never would be; he took me aside where no one could hear, and he told me that my work looked too sloppy, and my efforts were pointless.” Sidon’s words were hollow, simply spoken to inform. 

“Even if my peers told me I was doing greatly, for a time, I only believed that elder, because he confirmed and reinforced my own negative views about my work. I felt too embarrassed to pick up a needle for about a year after that day. I don’t know what he said to you, Link, but...it’s not true. Your thoughts may be loud, they may tell you horrible things, but there’s more people who believe in you than the ones who don’t.” Link sniffled, the puffy rings around her eyes ached from so much crying, and would produce no more tears, but still, she heaved and shivered.

Sidon always knew what to say. For someone so locked up for most of his life, he was awfully worldly, and there seemed to be no end to the depth of his patience and caring. How would she handle being so far from him? The rising and falling of his breaths, the way he cradles her at night, his soothing voice, the way he'd laugh when she would poke fun at him, or give him a hard time. She tried again to speak, but could only produce a hoarse whisper, something barely registering as speech.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, Link. Be careful, that sounded like it hurt your throat. Take this time to be kind to yourself, you deserve it. If I have to assemble a rudimentary soldier party or some sort of lawful reform to the Rito people, I will.  _ My  _ people are beginning to roam the four corners again, the Gerudo will be opening up more since you've tamed Naboris? Heavens, the Gorons have just been given clearance to come out of hiding. The Rito  _ better  _ learn to coexist, lest we fall into spats like pre-calamity Hyrule used to see so often." He paused, and looked down at the sleepy Hylian. "I apologize. I'm rambling far too much. I'm just...upset. I'll take care of this." Link looked down at her belt. The slide that held her slate was a combination of metal ridges and magnetized fixings, all placed carefully onto a leathery belt that fit around her hips snugly. She unhooked the belt, and held out the whole thing for Sidon to take. Starry-eyed and steady handed, he took it from her.

"Thank you. For trusting me, Link." Her heart twisted itself in knots of worry, and her mouth was dry from adrenaline that has long since worn off in her body, leaving her limbs and eyelids heavy. She saw no reason not to trust him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Sleep eluded him, and he felt as though it would not reach him easily in the days to come. As the sun set, Ruta stamped its way to Kakariko, a safe haven for an emotionally pained Link. She slept, predictably not so peacefully against him, and he found himself looking at his reflection in the black slate screen. He looked tired, disheveled, and worried. Sidon had never known having a particularly short temper, he'd never been too prone to outbursts, as you sort of learn to handle anger when you're around the infamously grumpy Zora elder council for too long, yet, when he saw Link in a heap of herself in the middle of that forest, his anger nearly swallowed him whole. He had so many questions, hesitantly leaving them unasked due to her condition. Even her usual cute snores were held back by her clenched vocal chords, coming out horsley and strained.

"Shh, my sweet." He whispered to her, rubbing his thumb in little circles on her shoulder, and her pained snores ceased. He only knew the Rito that hurt her was grey feathered, but what kept her from retaliating against him? Link was such an excellent fighter, there was no reason for her to not fight back. Unless, however, the grey Rito was not alone; the thought of her being ganged up on cut his heart to ribbons. The Zora army was known to have its own strong opinions, as well. There weren't many clubs or groups in the Zora domain, but the Zora army were the closest thing to it. They're not nearly as close minded as the Rito seemed to be, but they keep to themselves, act as a sort of family; sharing meals and ideas every night after they training, or keeping each other company on scouting trips. They would often speak in hushed whispers about his father, the elder council, merely petty rumors and gossip about miscellaneous laws, but it was something that kept them all together. Perhaps the Rito soldiers were similar, but reinforced those rumors with their xenophobic tendencies. He huffed a stressed sigh, causing Link to uncomfortably shift in her sleep. Being born as the fabled Hero of Hyrule, forced to go toe to toe with a force so sinister that the goddesses above won't break the heavens to intervene with it, being born into the wrong body from parents he assumed she doesn't even remember, at ends with societal norms, her very  _ existence _ was considered taboo. How she could carry herself in a positive way baffled him to no end.  _ She deserves the world, or at the very least, a normal life. _ His eyes stung with tears.

_ I hope I can give her that when this is all over. _

_ I hope I can give her everything. _

Ruta settled into its spot near Kakarikos opening, the sounds of restless crickets and sunset fireflies began to fill the air. The loud  _ thunk _ of Ruta's staircase smacking against the rocky floor jolted Link from her sleep, and she held her arms out defensively.

"Hey, it's okay, Link,” He placed his hand on her shoulder, and kissed the top of her head, “we're in Kakariko." He thought the news would bring her some semblance of calm, yet it seemed to only make her that much more distressed. She clung her arms around his neck, and pulled herself to him in a hug. She was shaking feverishly. "Hey, sweetheart, everything will be okay. Don't cry, my lovely girl." She shuddered, and just as he had predicted, she began to cry again.

"Miss...you. Dummy." She whispered into his ear, her words sucked the heat from his chest.

"It'll be alright...it'll... _ ah _ , I'll miss you, too." He held her there for what felt like a half hour, trying to match her breathing with his, trying to comfort her in some way. "Come, let's get your things. The sooner I leave, the sooner I can be back for you." She nodded sadly, and reached for her belt, probably forgetting she had given the slate to him before she fell asleep. It was an honor to be entrusted with such an invaluable tool, even if it had taken beatings that proved its sturdiness, it was a token of trust to Sidon. The belt for sure didn’t fit around his waist, he felt foolish for even trying it. He looked up to see Link smiling at him. He knew that look; she was absolutely poking fun at him with that expression.

“Hey, don’t make fun!” He strained and pulled the belt again, and she tapped on his tummy to get his attention. “Hm?” She pointed at his arm, and pointed at her own bicep, flexing her muscles and making a mock-stern impression.

“Tsk, where would I be without you, hm?” He blushed as he wrapped the belt around his arm, it fit nicely around his bicep, if a bit loose. “You have everything together?” She tried to hum affirmingly, but ended up coughing, and nodded as she rubbed her aching throat. 

“I’ll try only to be gone for a few days. I really don’t care if a lot of the Rito don’t want me to do it, I’m going to tame Vah Medoh.” Link looked up at him worriedly as they walked the ‘hidden’ path of Kakariko, the one that led straight into the center of the village. “I know, I'll try my best to not get hurt. If I have to, I can go back to the domain to assemble some sort of escort party for me, but I don’t believe it will be necessary. You’ll see that beast grounded in the next few days, I’m sure.” He winked, and she smiled nervously. The town center was predictably quiet, calm, almost intoxicatingly so compared to Rito Village, the people were comfortably going about their own business, yet most took the time to give them welcoming smiles as they walked up to the steps of Impa’s home. Sidon had a hand on Link’s shoulder as he slid the door open. Mona, Paya and the elder Shiekah herself were sitting amongst the rosy incensed room, basking in the light of the red paper lanterns quietly enjoying their dinner until the two walked inside.

“Woah,” Mona mumbled, a dumpling halfway up to her mouth. “That was quick.”

“Mona, could I have a moment, please?” He gestured for her to follow, and she confusedly set her food down, following the prince a ways out of earshot of everyone else, just outside the arches on the bottom of the stairs. 

“What’s up?” She asked, nervously. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this…” 

“Distressed?” His voice cracked as he spoke.

“That’s one word for it, sure.” Sidon nodded gravely. 

“The Rito are a bit less...er... _ inclusive _ than I had assumed, and Link was attacked.” The scholars eyes widened, and her expression fell. 

“Who did it? Who do I have to strangle?” Sidon clenched his fists together, and chuckled nervously. 

“I believe I’ll be the one to handle that. It was a soldier, or rather, a group of them. I just want her to be somewhere safe.” The scholar assumed a wider stance, and crossed her arms.

“You’re going to tame Medoh yourself?” She whisper-yelled, and Sidon nodded resolutely, leaving barely any time before he spoke again.

“Yes. I will. I’ll do whatever it takes, Mona.” Sidon inhaled a deep breath, the warm and inviting air was laced with the smell of cherry blossom trees. The rather pleasant feeling was cut short, however, as he thought of how they caused her to stop speaking simply by insulting her voice. “She hasn’t spoken since it happened, I think they said something to her.” The prince tried to hold back tears, but they began to fall down his cheeks. “I think they really said something bad. Please make sure she’s taken care of.”

“I-...We will, Prince Sidon.”

“I love her voice, you know?” He sniffled, and she chuckled sadly. “I can’t see why anyone else wouldn’t, quite frankly.” He gave her a quick and embarrassed glance, and gestured up the stairs. “Come, I need to go say goodbye. I’ll try to be a few days, but It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it took three or four. If I’m gone for longer than a week, please, either you or someone else send a scouting party from the domain to Rito Village.”

“O-okay, yeah. I can do that.” Sidon huffed as they walked up the long stairway. 

“I’m sorry for the suddenness-”

“No, please don’t be. We love Link, we want her to be happy just as much as you do.” Sidon smiled to himself, yet felt very little happiness along with it.

“I know. You’re all so wonderful.” She smiled a dorky gap-toothed grin, and slid the door back open. Link was sunken in on herself, her sword placed near the back walls next to her crossbow, and her ears perked up at Sidons figure. Her frown seemed to deepen as she looked him over. She must have felt like such a burden. He gestured for her to follow, and she picked herself up off the floor. 

Sidon got to one knee as they stood outside Impas shrine, meeting her eye-to-eye. She was already crying, and realizing that, his emotions began to overtake him as well. Was it all so bad to hurt this much, just being away from her? Was it unhealthy? Sidon grabbed her luminous stone necklace that was tucked beneath her shirt, a motion that startled the girl. He flicked it, making the light come to life between them. 

“You flick this when things get bad, okay? I’m always right here with you.” She sniffled, wiping snot off of her face with an arm, and nodded with her eyes to the ground. “I love you, Link.” She embraced him, uncontrollably sobbing into his shoulder. 

“I...L..love y-you too.” She said weakly. He knew it hurt her throat, but oh, those words felt so good to hear. He tried to replay them over and over in his head, as if she were repeating the phrase to him.

“It’s not just me that loves you, either. Kakariko does, too. I know it.” She gripped him tightly, nearly refusing to pull back. 

Sidon didn’t want her to, either.

He met her lips with a kiss, constricted her small body in a tight hug, and stood reluctantly. “I um... suppose I should go, then. Go eat, sweet girl, you must be starving.” She squeezed his hand, and hid behind her blonde locks as she sniffled. As if she was ripping off a bandage, she turned away all at once and started up the steps.

That was it. No goodbye. She slid the door behind her, without looking back. His heart sank in his chest. He couldn’t think of her without thinking of the ones who hurt her took her sweet, lovely voice from her. He could drown in that voice and be happy. He held the urge to punch the nearby wooden pole that held Impas archway, and walked toward Ruta. Sidon knew she was in there, still the same caring and loving girl he had come to know, yet someone had taken that girl who did nothing but express herself so confidently and happily, and scared her into a corner in the back of her mind, shaking and afraid to show herself again. The thought made him pick up a pillow at their bedside and scream into it until his throat felt torn to shreds. When his vocal chords begged him for reprieve, he pulled the pillow off of his face, and leaned against Ruta's walls, feeling the beast begin to stand and lumber towards Rito Village. His breath caught up with him, he was left only with the sounds of Ruta walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading! Writing this one actually made me a lil dysphoric, and I cant help but be sorry if it brings that same feeling to you. 
> 
> I love you all c:


	27. Posh red giant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sidon sets off to tame Medoh himself, has stressful nightmares, and reinforces his robe!

"I'm sorry, friend. I must seem like quite a mess, don't I?" He noticed the beast relay a sad, deflating sound as he tossed the pillow back on the bed. He fell back in his rocking chair, and sighed. His limbs were restless, and he quickly found himself looking around the room for something to do. His eyes fell upon a heap of fur in the corner of the room. 

_ Ah, the robe.  _ The prince began making preparations to line his recently created robe with bear pelt. If he was going to spend time in a bitterly cold environment, he might as well do so as comfortably as possible.

He made careful incisions, tracing the shape of the robe along with the pelt, noticing the shakiness of his hand threatening to muddy his handiwork. He cursed under his breath as he nicked his finger with his fabric knife.

_ Deep breath, Sidon. Hold it.  _

The cut of the outline took nearly an hour, perhaps a bit more. Sidon found himself panting from having to hold himself in such a position for so long.

His hand swiftly finished the pattern for the inner lining, the only things left to do were using the spare material to craft the sleeves. There was a book he was recalling for such techniques; some obscure Hylian clothing design methods passed from the Royal families tailors to the common folk, which have since been archived. Sidon could only wonder how the extravagant seamstresses who wrote that book would feel about him using their methods in less...delicate ways.

A few carefully cut pieces of fur pelt later, and he found himself attempting to line the robe with only the sharpest needle in his kit. Nearly worn to its ends, Mipha's needle still did it's job all these years later.

The latent coping mechanism he used all those years ago welcomed him back with restless, indifferent arms. Time sort of passed him quickly as he worked, and he shoved any nervous thoughts away in the repetitive motions of needlework. It felt like just yesterday he was shutting himself off from the rest of the domain attempting to continue on his sister's legacy, to bring her back in some cosmic way through this hobby he had sunk so much time into.

The night continued on, and sleep was a distant thought.

“How much of this do you actually see, Ruta?” Sidon gestured vaguely around him as he coaxed a needle between two lines of fabric. 

“If you really are a large amount of...erm... _ souls,  _ per se, what is it you think of the realm?” Ruta gave a chirrup that startled the keese from the nearby trees. “You’ve seen quite a bit since you’ve been above ground, I’m sure. I hope you like it here. We really wouldn’t be here without you.”

Ruta remained silent.

His focus was spoiled by the sun coming up over the horizon. Had he really been awake that long? Had time really passed him by  _ that  _ quickly? He looked down at the robe in his lap. What  _ should  _ have been a long project, requiring days or even weeks of work, was practically complete. Stress and worry began to bubble in his stomach, building up like acidic pools.

_ I wonder how Link is doing. _

The prince shook his head, and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He had to keep his mind free from worry if he was going to do this alone.

_ She's fine. She's surrounded by friends who can take care of her, Sidon, you can’t baby her.  _ The prince slumped back in his chair. His body refused to relax, yet his mind simply shut itself off from exhaustion.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

"My liege, the council cannot stand idly by without assigning accountability in  _ some  _ regard." Sidon was sick to his stomach, he normally was as of late. He pushed his barely picked apart Stamoka salmon aside.

"I don't care to talk about it, Kuza." Dorephan’s voice was meek, nearly hollow. 

"Pardon me, but I believe it's been long enough. We have just as much precedence over this matter as the Zora royal lineage, our thoughts need to be considered." There was a silence, a pindrop could be heard in the small dining area. The domain had only seemed more and more claustrophobic as time has gone by, nearly ten years since the calamity has left the Zora people in constant restless thrashings. The masons talk of expanding the domain, ideas of a ‘Great Corridor' to line the walls. How did they plan to perform such a demanding task? Perhaps they can try to bore a way out of Ruta’s deadly rain while they’re at it.

“Mm, I see.” Dorephan leaned forward on the small table, resting his chin against his steepled fingers. “You’re not wrong, Kuza. My ancestors would have my head if I didn’t lend you my ear. Please, tell me where your priorities lie in a post-calamity world.” Kuza huffed. The elder was one of two of Sidon’s mentors, one was appointed to teach cultural relations, the other to teach combat and tactical Zora strategy. 

Kuza was the former. The young prince couldn’t imagine how he got such a task as cultural teacher, as he detested anyone that  _ wasn’t  _ a Zora.

“These... _ beasts… _ ” he spat, “They’re by Shiekah design. Who knows how badly the rest of Hyrule got hit?! The people of Kakariko and any Shiekah survivors from the attack on Hyrule castle have to held accountable!” 

“Even the innocent ones, Kuza? Perhaps we should lock up their children, too?” Dorephan was almost lighthearted in his teasing, a tone that amused the prince. 

“Please, Sire.” Kuza spoke so bitterly, but tried to keep a polite and proper posture. Sidon found himself snarling at such a disingenuous tone. “I only wish to honor those we have lost.” Sidon bit down on the inside of his lip, his voice was dripping with artificial concern. “If no one is held accountable, this could just happen again! We have no right to meddle in things so ancient, with people so untrustworthy!”

“What you really speak of, Kuza, is holding the royal family accountable as well. They had just as much of a hand in the archaeological project.” Sidon’s father had a tendency to poke fun at people he wanted to give no time to, nearly to the point of driving the Elder council into heart attacks. Kuza grumbled again. 

“That wasn't _ exactly  _ what I meant. They had to have egged the Royal family on."

"I don't believe they did. Bospheramous was a spearhead for the excavation, and Princess Zelda appointed their schola- er,  _ chancellors _ to study them." 

“What kind of culture doesn’t keep track of their own history, sire? How did they not warn the family? It’s absolutely outrageous!” 

“It had to happen, methinks. It was a grim lesson to learn, but now is not the time to point fingers.”

The reactions that Kuza was trying to get out of Dorephan didn't seem to be working in his favor, and he lowered his tone to that sickening, pleading voice.

"I only wish for Princess Mipha's memory to not be tarnis-" Sidon slammed a reflexatory fist on the table, causing the silverware to shake. Dorephan and Kuza shot their gazes over to the prince.

Sidon could see his father's face, etched with worry at his distressed son.

"I-..." Sidon stammered, and Dorephan’s eyes studied him. He knew what was wrong. 

"You're excused, Sidon." The prince undug his nails from the wooden dining table, and stood.

"Thank you, father."

There were few things that made the young prince actually happy to step outside in the rainy, grey weather, and altercations like that was one of them. 

He walked across the Great Zora bridge, ducking gazes from the soldiers doing their shifts at the scouting post. It wasn't that he didn't like the soldiers, quite the opposite, they held a carefree attitude hard to come by since the Calamity. He was always much too nervous to speak with any of them, but enjoyed eavesdropping on their idle conversation while he trained with practice dummies.

The prince affixed a practice rapier to his metal belt, one of many different training weapons lined near the dummies, and assumed the stance associated with the art of fencing.

Fencing was by no means the sole art of the Zora people. In fact, most Zora favored spears and bows, as they were far more practical for their secondary use; fishing. The rapier he slid from its sheath was simply a placeholder for the thing he wished to wield; his mother's silverscale rapier. Indeed, Its brilliance lay cradled on a wall mount by his bedside, waiting for the day he could actually properly lift it and use it to free them from this place, just like his mother would if she still had the domain and the Zora army under her watchful eye.

What a wonderful life that would be, would it not? A life accompanied by his family. His sisters sleepy smiles and nearly annoyed grunts as he smashed against her with good morning hugs every day, his mothers light bringing life to his father's eyes again as she sat next to him on his throne. Any curse to befall the domain would scare him far less with them around, be it rain, famine, or blight, but here and now the heavy rain chilled his bones, and clouded his vision and optimism alike. 

The soldiers chatter was far more pleasant than listening to Kuza speak his sisters name in that...horrid tone. It wasn't the first time, either, that he had used her death to bend his father's arm.

Sidon thrust his sword forward, trying to keep his mind on his footwork. The heavy rain began beating the ground like a drum.

_ How could he? How could the elder council, or anyone, use my best friends death like some pawn? Like arrows against my poor father?  _

His untethered emotion was driven through a messy thrust towards the practice dummy, yet he never noticed how slippery the ground beneath his feet had become, and fell hard.

_ Thump! _

\--------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


Sidon awoke, muscles fully tensed as he searched the room for the cause of the sound. 

Perhaps he had dreamt it. 

There was daylight coming out of the small sliver of a crack in Ruta's front aperture.

He wiped cold drool from his mouth, and sleepily looked his finished robe over. It resembled more of a coat, now. He barely remembered finishing it before he fell asleep. He glanced over at his bed, half expecting Link to be there, yet his heart sank as he was only met with the empty, messy mattress with its blankets all strewn about.

"Good morning, Ruta." Sidon mumbled, and heard a buzzing noise coming from the slate on his arm. He slid it from its holster.

1:34 p.m.

Sidon sighed, and gave Ruta's walls a cheeky grin. 

"Good  _ afternoon _ , Vah Ruta. Better?" Ruta's lights flickered in response. He was glad to not feel  _ completely  _ alone _. _

Sidon affixed his sword to his side, and threw his new robe on with no hesitation. He was freezing, and felt no reason to delay the days events.

"I'll be back, friend. Don't get too lonely without me." He said as Ruta lifted it's staircase back up into its side.

Exactly as he had left it, the traders and wayfarers sat near fires at the Rito stable, and filtered in and out of the village. It would be a wonderful sight if not for the previous days events; he found himself only scanning his surroundings for a certain grey feathered Rito with a soldier's getup.

Nothing. The soldiers who did their training that far distance away from Rito village didn't match the description, nor did the prominently Hylian traders near the stable. He was almost relieved to not see him in such broad daylight. His jaw clenched tight at the thought of him.

He thought of Links horrified face as he came upon her in that snowy evergreen clearing. She looked so  _ hurt _ , so betrayed. Sidon pressed his nails into his palm.

_ Perhaps the locals will have better insight.  _ Sidon pulled his robe tightly around him as he walked across the bridge to Rito village. It wasn't the altitude that amplified the frigid temperatures, it was the horrible winds that churned and swirled around the rocky spire. He felt as though he'd be whisked away if he didn't walk with some sort of haste in his step.

Among the traders and leather tanners setting pelts out to dry, Sidon spotted a light coming from a large tent between two large Kiosks, and illuminated inside was Kayden using exaggerated hand gestures. The sight of him was a welcome one, to put it lightly.

Sidon passed a bit of time getting food, a meager amount of jerky to chew on while he waited for Kayden to come out of his classes, his stomach could handle no more than a few bites. Link would kick him for eating so little.

The trio were surrounded by papers, and they were huddled around a large wooden table discussing and taking turns pointing at something on it on a wooden table. 

Kayden certainly took Kaneli's advice to heart, he was raving and yelling just as much as the two he was teaching were. Perhaps teaching wasn't the right word. That classroom was a war zone of conflict with few compromises, and at some points, it devolved into whoever could shout the loudest. If he wasn't mistaken, Sidon could swear Kayden had made friends with that Rito scholar he demonized just a day prior. What was his name, again?

“Ponti! You can’t just push me like that when I’m trying to write! You wrote these maps, you know how long they take to replicate!”

“Precisely why I can't have you  _ mucking  _ my work, I told you that Goron path is collapsed! We need to wear another trail down and start trade through there, you foolish...fool!” 

_ Right, Ponti. He seems awfully friendly.  _

_ “ _ We’re not cave people!’ The Zora scholar shouted, “We have thumbs and tools!” He pointed passionately at the map on the table. “It’ll take more people to carve a new path than it would to clear this one.”

The scrawny Rito scholar glanced out of the tent, and did a double take at the prince, who was trying to keep out of eyesight by leaning a bit behind a kiosk. 

“Oh, so you brought the posh red giant to intimidate me?! Look at him! Why is he just hovering out there?”

Sidon blinked.

Kayden confusedly poked his head out of the thick tan tent.

“Posh red gia-...Prince Sidon?” 

Sidon held out his arms.

“I was simply waiting for you to finish your classes, pay me no mind!” Kayden poked his head back in the tent to yell. 

“He’s not a giant, he’s the Zora prince! Show some respect! You too, Tekk!” A slow, heavy laugh like someone dragging a cello through molasses resonated in the tent. 

“We don’t recognize royalty when they enter our village, Kayden. On these grounds, he’s just as much of a commoner as you or I.” Kayden rolled his eyes, and gestured for the prince to come inside.

"Come in, really, I was just finishing up."

Sidon ducked through the tent, nearly having to bend to one knee to fit inside. Yellowing parchment lined the walls, depicting trade materials and various exchange rates for goods. A lot of the information was outdated, most likely, but there was value in predicting how things would set themselves back up once the realm can stand on its own two feet again. The trading system was the singular cornerstone of Hyrule, it boasted a sturdy backbone of trust between all corners of the realm pre-calamity, even including seasonal festivals when specific fruits were in season, like the Spring Strawberry festival that was held in Hyrule Field, or the Winter Wildberry festival in the Tabantha plains. 

"Ugh, look at him, he'll knock the tent over!"

"Shut up, Ponti." Kayden mumbled under his breath. The slow and husky voice Sidon had heard moments prior suddenly had a face put to it, an owl-like Rito with puffy white and black feathers. He almost looked just like a panda. Kayden stared daggers into Ponti, gesturing at the map.

"Okay, so final note here, if I can keep your attention for five seconds?"

"You can certainly try, fish." Kayden sighed, and the blubbery Rito scholar presumably known as Tekk chuckled heartily at his expense.

"Alright, we could be expecting the Gorons any day now, we don't know  _ where  _ they'll be going first to reach out to the rest of the realm, but their first impressions need to be  _ good.  _ If they send any scholars, we need to get them started on helping with the rehabilitation of the realm, and information on what they've mined since they've been under Death Mountain."

"Peh, Goron scholars? Isn't that a bit contradictory?" 

"What would you know? You've never met one." Tekk asked slowly.

"Dumb, thick headed, rock smashing simpletons, I'm sure theyre a wonderful people." Kayden groaned loudly, his fists were clenched in frustration.

"Tell you what, Ponti, if you can keep your beak shut when or  _ if  _ they get here, ill be sure to let it be known that your hand in Rito villages reform was its most important one."

Ponti rubbed his beak, pondering the thought.

"You may not be so bad after all, fish." The Rito scholar scooped up his map, and tucked it underneath a wing. "I’ll try to be late tomorrow, see you then!”

“Uh-huh,” Kayden mumbled, rubbing a temple as Tekk maneuvered his large body out of the tent. “Just try to pay attention tomorrow, please. Or engage, that’d be nice...too.” Kayden sighed, and leaned with his hands on the table. 

“Bad day?” Sidon asked, and Kayden shook his head.

“Just as good as any other. They absorb what im telling them, it’s just...kinda hard to see it through all the snark.” The scholar looked over, and studied Sidon up and down. “Looks better.” 

“Hm?” 

“The uh, the jacket looks good.” 

“Oh, you have my thanks! I swear I could do better, I just wanted something to fight off the winds.” 

“Yeah, the pelts they have here come from practically everywhere you could hunt. No one can tan leather quite like the Rito can. Where’s your friend?” 

“Ah, Link? She’s um...she's in Kakariko.” Kayden squinted. 

“You just...send her off?” 

“No, It’s not that, I just…” The scholar put his hands in his coat pockets, it was obvious he could tell that something was amiss.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Sidon huffed, and nodded. Yes, he absolutely did want to talk about it. He wanted to relay this to anyone who would listen, because if he kept it in any longer, he felt like he would fall apart at the seams. 

“I don’t wish to impose, but I am in need of an ear, yes.” 

“Let’s talk somewhere not freezing.” Sidon felt that bending over was beginning to strain his back, so he was thankful that Kayden began to gather his few belongings that sat in the tent, and snuffed out a lantern next to his cot in the corner. He led the prince nearly off of the side of the plateau that held the great spire of Rito village, except instead of falling off, they walked down a thick and sturdy wooden stairway spiraling down the plateau with taut rope railings to lean himself on as he soaked in such wondrous surroundings.

He peeked down, and the dizzying sight of the crystal waters engulfed his vision. Once they snaked down the steps for a moment, they were met with a blond wood door, old with clouded windows. Something felt wrong, like he was in a place he wasn't welcome, as this little alcove was much too secretive. There were sounds of clacking cups and multitudes of conversations happening at once right behind the door.

"It's okay, c'mon." Kayden leaned against the door, and Sidon was met with a tavern full of Rito soldiers and village people alike crowded around wooden tables. It almost looked like Hateno Huddle, save for some rather strange metal tubes running near the stony walls of the place, and everything was just a little more...grimy. "Welcome to the Tapping Swan." He was hit by a blast of inviting warmth from the place, it seemed to radiate from all around him. Secondly, he noticed the smell in the air, a fruity, bitter aroma that danced along with the laughter and conversations of the people around him. "This is Rito villages very own wildberry meadery."

"No kidding." Sidon said wondorously, his eyes scanning the Rito patrons giving him dismissive looks. No sign of grey feathers, thank the goddess.

"It's also a safe zone if Medoh ever gets too crazy. Sit!" The prince sat in a chair surprisingly suited to his size, and leaned back on its supports. It felt good to relax, even in the hectic room he found himself in, he felt as though he was blending in in the chaos. He leaned his weight forward on the table.

"If you were to tell me a month ago that I would be talking to my own prince in a Rito tavern? I'd say you're crazy."

"I ride a giant elephant, Kayden. Such things are surprisingly commonplace now." Kayden chuckled as he sat across from the prince. He could see it in the scholars expression, along with the way he carried himself, that he was dealing with so much stress. That being said, he did visually decompress as soon as he sat, rubbing the bags under his eyes.

A table over erupted in laughter, one of the Rito was banging a mug against their table.

"So, tell me what's up. I'd be doing my people a disservice if I didn't try to cheer you up."

"Something happened yesterday. It wasn't good. Link was…" Sidon leaned in close, and spoke in a careful volume, "attacked by a group of Rito soldiers." Kaydens eyes widened.

"Wh...what?" Sidon clicked his fingernails together nervously.

"Scared her to the point of complete silence. They hit her hard. Bruised up her face, kicked her stomach." Kayden glanced around, and held a shocked hand to his mouth.

"That's so awful. Do you think they did it because she's a Hylian?" Sidon tried to hide a wince as he shook his head. If there's any reason they did it, the secondary reason was definitely because she wasn't born a girl.

"I um...I don't believe so. I think they were trying to scare us off."

"Did she say who did it?" Sidon nodded.

"Yes, some grey feathered Rito, but there's not really any law here."

"Forget that. The Rito are stubborn, well, their soldiers are. Take care of him yourself." Sidon furrowed his brow. What was he implying? That he kill the guy? 

"Take  _ care  _ of him? You don't mean to imply I-" 

"Knock his lights out." He spoke this like it was the answer to the easiest question in the world.

"Well-"

“Prince, are you angry?” Sidon was taken aback. There wasn't any anger he had ever felt in his life like the anger he experienced the day prior. If he was a man of any poorer judgement, he would have ran straight into the forest and kept going until he found the person responsible, and let his anger take him. Sidon nodded sternly.

“Okay, and you left her to come here, right? You're not intimidated by them." 

"I came here to tame Vah Medoh." Kayden rolled his eyes.

"The divine beast has been flying over this village for one hundred years. You could have stayed behind to take a  _ day  _ with her _ ,  _ but you didn't. You came  _ right _ back here because you're  _ pissed."  _ Sidon frowned, and his eyes drifted in thought.

"I suppose I do want to confront him. Pardon my asking, but what would you do if it were Kodah?" 

"Well Kodah is my wife, Link is just your friend, right?" Sidon shook his head, and felt his face light up.

"N-no, Link is my companion. My girlfriend." Kayden furrowed. 

"That makes it even worse! If some Rito soldier used my wife to send a message like that, I'd break his beak off." The prince shot his eyebrows up in surprise at Kayden's sudden ferocity. "Listen, I know I might sound like a monster, but i'm not saying you  _ kill _ the guy. You  _ do _ need to confront him. Whatever happens after that is up to you. You know what I mean?" Sidon sat staring at his friend across the table as he let his advice soak in. He'd been so terrified of seeing grey feathers, not because of what the soldier would do to him, but how the prince would treat the situation. He just wanted to know why, why someone would do something so hateful.

"What time is it…" Kayden asked himself, looking around the room for a clock. Sidon reached for the Shiekah slate, and gave it a quick shake. 

"It's 4:35." 

"Perfect!" Kayden motioned toward the back, nearest the bar lined with Rito patrons sitting in a line of stools. He got the attention of the bartender, and held up two fingers. "You and I, my regal friend, are going to partake in the merriment!" Sidon stuttered for a moment. He'd never been one for drinking, save for the occasional glass of Zora rice wine at dinner, but something in him was yearning for the feeling of being less connected with reality, a chance to forget about the day before.

"Sure," Sidon said politely, "Its safe to say it's been a rough day for the both of us. I'm open to the idea." 

"Ah, that's the spirit! Hylia knows I need it." The two were greeted by two large mugs of amber liquid, and Sidon felt his intestines squirm with anxiety as the smell of it hit him; it was so sickly sweet. The scholar knocked back a large swig. Sidon followed with a smaller sip, but the oddly bittersweet flavor had him going back to keep the taste on his tongue every few seconds. 

"Good, yeah?" Sidon nodded, smiling with newfound courage.

"It's good, it's good! Much better than our rice wine." Kayden shrugged.

"Well we didn't have much in terms of entertainment. That poorly made wine kept a lot of us from banging our heads against the walls." Sidon could remember how the nights were often filled with drunken stragglers aimlessly wandering the Great corridor, it was precisely that sight that kept him from drinking in the first place.

"So how'd you meet Kodah?" Kayden knocked back a glug of mead.

"It's a sad story, at least on my part. You know how her mother owned the hotel before the calamity?" Sidon nodded.

"Mm, she was a lovely woman."

"That she was. There was a time about twenty years ago, about a year before she died when I was in my teens, where I started to go to the hotel to sleep instead of my own bed." Kayden leaned forward and rubbed his chin. "Kodah's mother seemed awfully sad to never have patrons, and sleeping in my room with no windows was starting to make me...claustrophobic."

"I know the feeling all too well." Sidon mumbled as he took a more courageous drink.

"So I met Kodah more formally from there. She was always grateful to have me there to cheer up her mom, but, I started going there just to see her. I fell hard and fast." 

Sidon exhaled through his nostrils. Once again, he knew the feeling. "She made me feel like if the rain never let up, I wouldn't care."

"That's beautiful. You'll be going back in a few months, I take it?" Kodah laughed.

"Are you kidding me? Absolutely, as soon as I can. We've got tourists to take care of, plus I couldn't make her raise Finley alone, that kid is a little demon." He said with a wink. "Tell me about Link." The prince felt his face flush, and he didn't know if it was because of the alcohol, or the thought of his long eared, beautiful girlfriend.

"Ah-" He held a hand over his mouth, "She's the world to me, Kayden. I would give anything just for her happiness." The scholar smiled knowingly.

"She's also  _ technically  _ a zombie, yeah? How was it possible that Kaneli recognized her like that?" Sidon chuckled and cocked his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Kaneli said he remembered her. Said he thought she was a boy or something."

"Oh, yes, well, she was put into stasis as the calamity was happening."

"Stasis?" Sidon nodded, taking another large gulp.

"Erm, it's a chamber of sorts, supposed to bring a person from the brink of death."

"Jeez," Kayden exclaimed. "What a world to wake up to."

"I think the post-Calamity realm is much more easy on her than the one she once knew. She was once Zelda's very own bodyguard."

Kayden stopped mid-drink and slammed his mug on the table, making a noise of amazement.

"No way! So she's not just named after the Hero of Hyrule for no reason!?" Sidon smiled proudly.

"She  _ is _ the Hero of Hyrule."

"And the prince of the Zora calls her his own, what a tale for the ages!" Kayden looked back at the bar, and got the attention of the barkeep for another few rounds.

The mugs were plopped down on the table, the cool liquid sloshing around and threatening to spill onto the wood. The prince felt what he could only describe as loose, and his chest felt comfortably warm. In such a bitterly cold place, it made sense for drinking to be a common pastime. He graciously tipped the mug starward.

After an hour or so of chatting, fully comfortable in each others company, Sidon watched as Kayden dropped something into his own mug, and downed the whole thing effortlessly, opening his mouth to reveal a red rupee between his teeth.

"Ahh! Where'd you learn that, that's such a talent!" Kayden cracked up, and held back a burp. 

"D'you think that was cool? I just thought that up. I thought I'd've choked on the rupee thank Hylia I didn't."

"Pfft, you're a *hic* crack and a whip, Kayden!" 

"What does that mean?!" Kayden began contagiously giggling. 

"I don't know!"

"Alright alright, sss- so when are you gonna do it?" 

"Do wha- *hic* do what?"

"When are you gonna propose to 'er?" Sidon's heart flipped.

"Ah- I um...I haven't thought about that." 

"C'mon, you have to, Prince Sidon!"

"But I've only known her fo-"

"Shhhhhhhhush. You've lived for as long as you have, how many times have you b- buh been in love?" Through the dizzy thoughts, a luminous stone flickered to life in his head.

"Once." 

"Once! Exactly. And you're telling me there's not one part of you th- *urp* that wants to find the nearest stream, get the fattest salmon you can find, get on one knee and say all that sappy marriage stuff about swimming together for the rest of your lives before putting a tiara on her head?"

Sidon took a deep breath, feeling faint at such an inviting fantasy. He couldn't possibly propose so early, could he? He would appear mad if he did so. 

"I've no doubt in us, Kayden, but I wouldn't want to ppf-pressure her into such an intensely demanding decision." The scholar dizzily shrugged.

"She'd be a good princess. Feh, a good queen, even." Sidon felt himself sober up a bit, for just a moment, so he could savor that idea. "Listen, you caaame here for someone to talk to, and im gonna sit here and cram as much advice ss'I can give you until im too drunk to keep goin." 

"You sure you havent hit that limit already?" Kayden shook his head.

"Not yet I haven't! Buh- barkeep! Nyeh!" The exuberantly feathered bar owner rolled her eyes as the scholar lazily motioned for more mead. In his drunken haze, the furthest thing from Sidon's mind was grey feathers, just as he had hoped, and the only things he could focus on was both how numb and tingly his body felt, and how many Kaydens he was currently looking at.

Two.

Three.

Two.

Three.

They shifted and swayed around and in and out of each other. 

He messily lifted a mug vaguely in the direction of his mouth, and the bitter taste of mead sealed his fate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REALLY LOVED WRITING DRUNK SIDON HAAAAA. 
> 
> It's super tropey, getting your fav characters drunk, but I think if there was any race that was known for good booze, it'd probably be the Rito. Keeps em warm. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, this one was especially fun to write! I probably say that for every chapter!
> 
> I love you all!


	28. Meta whatever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IT'S MEDOH TAMING TIME, BABY c: The prince confronts the feathery fiend only known as the grey Rito!

“Oh, what _is_ this?!” Sidon’s eyes darted open.

_Who said that?_ Who got in Ruta while he was sleeping? The messy tan tent’s ceiling was letting in dull morning sunbeams, and the prince realized he was laying flat on the scholars table. How in Lanyru did he end up here? Ponti was absolutely livid, nudging an unconscious Kayden whose body was half on his cot, and half on the floor. Sidon’s head fin was killing him, as was his head.

“Hey! Get up, idiot! You’re wasting my time!” Kayden stirred, and Sidon lifted himself from the table. How some rickety wooden table supported his weight for so long, he’ll never know. 

“Yes, okay, good morning Ponti, I’m awake. Could you not be so loud?”

As the two bickered, Sidon stood unsteadily, and felt the night's events come to him in a flood of muddy recollection.

_You do need to confront him. You're pissed._ Kaydens words echoed in his mind. There was no more waiting to be done. His worry was to be stuffed down in his reeling stomach; queasy from last night's events, and turning with hunger. He tightened his robe around him and turned to face Kayden, surrounded by the two feathery scholars.

"Listen guys, could we do class an hour later today? I can hardly think straight." 

"Oho, sure, let's move mountains for you while we're at it, Kayden! We'd surely do anything just for you!"

"Wow that's really sweet of you Ponti," Kayden mumbled as he ignored his sarcasm, pushing the grumbling scholar outside of the tent. "I just need an hour. If you want to bring me coffee that'd be nice."

"I'd rather dunk myself in Death Mountain!" Tekk followed behind with stifled laughter.

"Sorry about that, how'd you sleep?" Kayden asked, walking over and fishing through a bag under his cot.

"Eh, as well as one could on a few planks of wood." Sidon mumbled, rubbing his aching back.

"I uh, I really don't remember a lot, but I needed that. Thanks for being there with me." Kayden popped a little oval shaped object in his mouth; presumably something for his hangover. Sidon was definitely feeling some of the same pain, yet strangely, all he could pay attention to was resolving this issue once and for all.

“I think I need to have a word with the grey Rito.” Kayden took a large swig from a canteen, and gave him a worried look.

“Already? You just woke up. Here, it's water." Sidon tipped the cold water from the canteen towards his mouth; it flooded his empty stomach.

"Whatever is going to happen, I just feel like I _need_ it to happen, you know? Just waiting is making me feel ill." Kaydens brow shot up.

"Sure it's not the hangover?"

"I am, yes." 

"What do I do if you like, you know, don't come back?" The prince felt a shiver up his spine. Not ever in his life has someone bluntly mentioned his own mortality like that before, and yet, it seemed fitting for how daunting the task at hand was. 

"In the interest of keeping my spirits from plummeting, I'll pretend you didn't ask me that question." Kayden dryly chuckled.

"Fair enough. I think the scholars and I may be doing an expedition in the coming days, to map the outskirts nearest Gerudo. A lot of rockfalls have reportedly happened there in the past hundred years." Sidon rubbed his temple, and leaned a hand against the table as Kayden sat comfortably in his cot.

"You're going to deal with those two for that long?" Kayden chuckled.

"I like to tell myself it's half for work, half scouting a nice vacation spot for Kodah, Finley and I. Plus, there's so much history beneath Hyrule's soil, who knows what's been unearthed by all the earthquakes the calamity brought? It's like a cuccoo egg hunt, just, with potentially priceless artifacts."

"That's a fair point. I'll make sure that you're duly commended by the elder council for whatever you find." Sidon said with a smile. 

"Thanks, Prince Sidon. If I find any old Zora relics, I know who to go to first." Sidon chuckled unbelievingly; no one knew of his interest in such things, save for his sister, who was the person who got him into how strange the old culture of Zora history long passed truly was.

"Who told you of that? Was it my father?"

"Mm, yeah. I've talked to him about a lot; sorta happens when his throne is so close to the inn." Sidon rolled his eyes, choosing to spare the scholar from rambling on about the almost alien parts of Zora ancestry.

The wind that battered against his side as he walked across the bridge from Rito village was just as harsh as the day prior, puncturing his pelt-lined robe and chilling his gills. His plan was to ride Ruta back to where he had found Link, hoping to find some kind of answer beyond the treeline, and as he ascended Ruta's steps, he felt his nervousness multiply.

"Good morning, friend." He watched the beasts lights flicker and stutter to life. The popping and shifting sounds of rock as Ruta lifted up and began to walk to their destination led him to think the beast wasn't such a big fan of the cold, either. Sidon grabbed a cup of water, trying to get the bitter taste of anxiety out of his dry mouth, and stood with a hand resting on his rapier, studying the clearing where the soldiers typically trained. They never seemed to take a day off, that much was apparent; seven or eight of them were spaced out in the clearing taking turns flitting into the air, barraging targets with arrows with pristine accuracy. Among the clearing with crossed arms, a slick, silvery grey Rito clad in sparse belts and a scarf was watching Ruta from afar like a disapproving parent. Sidon felt his arm fins uncrease and flare furiously under his robe.

He expected to be angry, but not to such an extent that it would trigger latent primal reactions within him. Sidon gritted his teeth together, and Ruta quickly slammed the front aperture shut. Keeping a firm grip on the handle of his mother's rapier, and trying to still his lungs from hyperventilating, the panic surged just beneath his skin as Ruta settled near the evergreen trees. Link's startled and horrified face was all he could think of as he stepped down to enter the treeline, not paying any mind to the snow nipping the warmth from the undersides of his feet. 

The evergreen trees in the small patch of dense forest swallowed him whole, as did the maddening sounds of the warblers that nested within their needles.

With fierce determination stoked within him, each step followed itself through with clearer purpose; every tree that passed him brought him that much closer to an answer, and as he passed the Link shaped indent in the snow, his anxieties transformed into white hot hatred.

He passed the other side of the treeline, expecting fully the various soldiers with bows held firm on him, and while their weapons were not loaded, their eyes were full of malign intent. The grey Rito stood amongst the soldiers watching Sidon with a smug smile. _Was this their leader? Their symbol of independence? If Revali was anything like this man, I consider him pathetic; lower than the ugliest pond scum._ Sidon was fully aware that there were redeeming qualities of the Rito people, they were steadfast, they were so prideful and could use it in such productive ways, but this man's aura held every bitter quality he could think of. 

"Where's your boyfriend, queer?" Sidon's arm fins once again flared and stretched beneath his robe. He pushed such crass bullying aside.

" _Why did you do what you did?"_ Sidon asked through gritted teeth, keeping a steady pace towards his adversary. A few Rito soldiers drew back their bows, but the grey Rito held out an arm to still them from further hostility.

"Like I told your fairy, we don't _need_ your help. Doesn't matter if you kill Ganon, if the goddesses sanctioned whatever, this is where Rito take care of _Rito_ problems." Sidon gripped his rapier, and slowed to a stand still. He could not keep his eyes from locking on the Rito soldier's, and staring him full of hateful wishes.

" _Brilliant_." Sidon spat, "Any _fool_ could see you need our help, and you thought to assault the only person who could _help you_. _Now_ _you only have me._ " Grey feathers huffed a sharp laugh.

"You know, those kicks I was giving him? Gave him a _rager._ I could tell he _wanted_ me." Sidon felt himself snap, ignoring the bows drawn around him as he pulled his sword deftly from its sheath. This appeared to be exactly what he wanted, as grey feathers let himself fall back off of the precipice, and he hovered just out of reach. "Ehh, no, not gonna happen." Sidon nearly considered hurling his rapier at him, but stilled himself from such a foolhardy decision. "Here's what IS going to happen. You're going to watch me tame that thing myself, and then I'm gonna come down here and help my friends beat you into a heap in the snow!" Sidon glanced at either side of him, the Rito had their arrows cocked with gleaming tips aimed directly at his face.

"Going up there is going to anger Medoh, it's _suicide. It'll kill you and tear your village apart."_

_"_ Well, I'd rather my village go down under my own wing, than saved by you and your faggy boyfriend." With that, grey feathers began his ascent, and immediately, Vah Medoh became aware of this.

"He's going to _die, you blind idiots!"_ The two soldiers on his left and right gave quick glances from the rapidly ascending Rito to Sidon, and trained their arrows closer to the prince. 

Medoh roared, sounding like a cacophony of violin strings being scratched by rusty wire, its wings adjusted to fly towards the Rito that was approaching it. " _Listen to that, that is going to destroy your village!"_

"Shut up!" Nervously yelled one Rito. Under his robe, the prince attempted to grab the slate from it's belt on his arm, and in response to this, the soldier on his left practically dug the cocked arrow against his gills. The villagers lining the spire began to exit their oval shaped doors, looking skyward at the hunched over Medoh eyeing the grey Rito, who was trying to find a proper spot to land on the beast. Sidon could see Chieftain Kaneli's large form shading the sun from his eyes with a wing, watching the events unfold just outside of his little room built into the spire, as well as Kayden, standing next to Ponti and Tekk nearest the base of the village, who looked equally frightened and confused. Grey feathers disappeared behind a wing of the beast, and from there, it wasn't apparent where he went. Sidon swore he could hear the villagers gasp in horror as his feathers began to fall from the sky, aimlessly fluttering down on the village spire.

There was a confused moment of silence among the soldiers as they watched their comrades feathers fall to the crescent reservoir below.

" _See?!"_ Sidon yelled, " _you have to let me help you! Look, look over there!"_ Sidon pointed at the little group of children Link heard singing two days before, huddled around their mother and hiding their faces. Along with that, the pelt traders and kiosk owners were quickly moving their items, afraid of the inevitable as Ritos otherworldly screams spelled death for their village. " _They're all going to die if you don't let me help!"_ Sidon pulled the slate from its holster, keeping eye contact with the bowmen, whose weapons were shaking in their hands.

Feathers continued to rain from the wailing beast, but it appeared Medoh's sights were shifted upon the villagers. 

It started as a small breeze, not much was noticeable for the first few seconds, yet as it grew, the anomalous gusts of wind rained heavily from Vah Medoh as it screamed, kicking up dirt and snow, shifting the rocky walls in the canyon around their village, sending ripples cascading in the crystal waters below. Sidon shakily held the slate in the beasts direction, trying to get the fast moving titan in the magnesis line of sight. 

Medoh was no doubtedly on a collision course for the village, and with that realization, there was no stopping Sidon now, no amount of arrows in his sides or unwanted beatings to his psyche would keep the beam that shot a heavenly orange light from the slate from reaching its target as the just as the beast was a mere few meters from the spire, and the soldiers that were gathered around him simply stayed quiet. The beam grappled onto the monolithic creature by its torso, ceasing momentum abruptly and causing its wings and head to flail violently around and grind together as it wailed and fought to break free. From the odd glowing interface on the slates screen, teeming with numbers and wireframe graphs (obviously something more suited to whoever the ancient Shiekah referred to as ‘builders’), Sidon pressed a button resembling an arrow, and was quickly met with a challenging tug threatening to pull him off into the chasmic abyss. With no help from the people around him, he painfully dragged himself backward, hands gripping the small Shiekah device and straining his muscles to practically throw the angry beast into the forest nearby. Medoh clumsily fell upon the trees, popping and breaking it's way in until it was left restlessly swaying and fighting against its orange constraints. 

The beasts sorrowful wails began to grow, it was apparent that the parasitic corruption that called Medoh its host was attempting a new plan as black tendrils coalesced on its back, forming itself into a stringy, smoking monstrous humanoid shape.

" _What is that?!"_ Yelled a soldier, watching as the tall and lanky corruption began to step through the felled trees in long steps leaving tar colored imprints in the snow. 

" _Shoot it!"_ Sidon yelled, and the group of soldiers began to pelt the bubbling fiend with arrows. The barrage lasted much too long, the pure hatred incarnate was still walking and gaining ground as if nothing was happening to it, until one of the arrows hit a weak point in its face, and the creature fell to the floor and screeched itself into a fizzling pile of melted snow. "Yes! Oh Hylia, we're okay!" Sidon shouted in disbelief, releasing Medoh from magnesis. Confused shouts echoed from Rito village, and Sidon held a thumb in the air, being met with loud cheers.

"Is it safe to go near it?" A low voiced soldier inquired. Sidon gave a dismissive side-eye. His soldiers would never rally together for such a petty cause, to bar outside help. Sidon felt nothing but contempt for this band of soldiers, but felt obligated to give them some respect for helping.

"Don't. Alright? Best you all go get rest, or get drunk, or something. Your village is saved." Sidon spoke emotionlessly, exhausted regardless of how young the day still was. The soldiers shared unnerved glances, panic instilled in their eyes that was sure to stay around for restless nights to come. Sidon maneuvered the broken and splintered wood, and climbed on top of the slightly bumpy surface of Medoh; there was no grey feathers in sight. It seemed there was no side door entrance, as there was an opening hatch near the middle of its back. Like a cellar door, he stepped down a small flight of stairs and was met with a similar, abiet shorter room than Rutas. The insides were somewhat sun bleached and worn with time; it was clear that this place was safe. The slate buzzed, eager to be connected to the familiar center console. With a quick _slap,_ the Shiekah slate began its diagnostics, bringing glowing life flowing through the beasts mechanical veins.

Leaning against the console was the shadowy form of the late Rito champion Revali, radiant and deep blue feathers were accentuated by the light blue flame that danced around his ethereal form, a smug yet surprised look was stretched across his face.

"Lil far away from home, aren't you, fish man?" He asked playfully.

"What was it like in there?"

"Eh, what?" 

"Being trapped in Medoh." Revali no longer looked amused, taking on a more tired expression. It had most likely been a hundred years since his first contact with someone, Sidon realized, yet the prince found it difficult to muster much in the way of his normal polite demeanor.

"It's like waking up, and never getting that first morning stretch, or being cornered by someone, and they threaten you with a fist, but the punch never comes. I just sorta _flinched_ for all of it. How long was it?"

"One hundred years." Revali's eyes widened. 

"Oooookay." He huffed, and he studied Sidon for a few seconds more. "Uh, thanks, I guess." The Rito champion said, while still carrying himself with that tell-tale pride and smugness the Rito were known for. The time he had spent stuffed uncomfortably in Medoh as a restless captor may have humbled him to some degree, and Sidon found his appreciation to be welcome.

The slate clicked free, and the beast slowly pulled itself out of the crater it left in the ground, coming to a resting position.

"Your people revere you, you know." Sidon said, watching the late champions image flicker in and out of existence. 

"For what? Dying?" Sidon chuckled.

"Ah, well, martyrs are often celebrated. My sister did the same. She fell to the blight that took Ruta when Ganon started coming out of the ground. She's practically worshipped by my people." Revali pointed at him with a feathered finger.

"So you’re the prince of the Zora? Mipha's brother?"

"Mm, that I am. I’m Sidon, for what it’s worth."

"Hooh, what a trip! She was so sweet no matter how much I picked on her. Like some kinda angel or something." Sidon frowned.

"You _bullied_ my sister?"

"Hey, listen buddy, I picked on everyone. If I’m bein honest, I liked being around the 'champions'."

“You just didn’t know how to show it, huh?" Revali chuckled knowingly.

“You said it, not me. We followed Princess Zelda around a few times on these little 'excursions', trying to find her ‘latent abilities’. I didn’t believe they existed, or, I felt like if they did, they were metaphysical."

"Metaphorical." 

"Yeah, that. Meta whatever." Sidon watched attentively as he spoke, noting how exhausted the poor champion looked. “Those trips didn’t last long. In the middle of one, Ganon just sort of... _happened,_ and everyone was just supposed to go to their beasts, so we all split up.” Revali shook his head, as if trying to get a painful memory from replaying in his mind. “If I had the chance to thank your sister, I would. I’d thank all of them.”

“Link is still alive.” Revali's expression was just as most who were told of Link’s survival all these years after the calamity had struck the realm.

“No-hoho way!” He held a feathered hand to his beak, and leaned forward attentively to the prince. 

“Mhm, I’ll be sure to tell her you’re grateful.” Revali cocked his head.

“Her? Pretty sure the person I knew was a guy.” Sidon bit the inside of his cheek, cursing himself for bringing up more chances for Link to get herself ridiculed.

“She decided that being a boy wasn’t working for her, so she’s no longer one.” His eyes widened even further. He looked confused, but not in any bitter way.

“Woah. Is he- er, is she still quiet all the time?” 

“She speaks quite often.” Revali looked upset.

“ _No,_ that’s all it took?! A change of clothes?! Now h- she talks?” The prince chuckled. It was apparent the late champion didn’t really understand, but it clearly came from a place of innocence, and not misintent.

"Not quite _all_ it took, but you're close.” 

"I spent _so_ much time trying to get that little brat to talk to me." Revali’s image flickered more intensely; it appeared he didn't have much more time left. “Alright, I’m gonna guess Ganon is still out there, so I’ll point Medoh’s canons right at it.”

“Thank you, really."

"Yeah, yeah. Go back to your pond, fish man." Sidon smiled, and waved a tired goodbye before lifting himself out of the beast. None of the soldiers who were there a moment ago remained nearby Medoh, but Sidon could see quite a few Rito people freely flying around their village. The ground quaked as Medoh stood on its stony talons, and shook even harder as it pushed itself off of the ground with torrential gusts that threatened to knock Sidon off his feet. It's birdsong repeated through the air, sounding like that of a monsterous trumpet, completely purified of Ganon's corruption. In the thick trunks of broken evergreen trees, grey feathers lay in a nest-like patch of bundled twigs and pine needles. He was breathing; hardly so. Sidon couldn’t see himself entertaining the idea of leaving him there, even considering how uncaring and ruthless he had been to both him and Link. He heaved the unconscious Rito onto his back, and watched as Medoh disappeared northward. 

That was it, all of the beasts were returning to their rightful places; watchful eyes that stood guarding the realm. This realization nearly brought him to tears.

This whole ordeal; the lives lost to the calamity, the homes destroyed that were once filled with polished furnishings and bloomed friendships has only just now seen its old wounds begin to be treated. As he walked across the frigid bridge, an unconscious soldier slung uncaringly over his shoulder, he could only think about how his girlfriend was feeling; she was most likely worried sick about him. 

What did it look like as he was taming Medoh from Kakariko? To see the flying beast go headfirst to the ground, only to be grabbed forcefully by an orange tether, and flung in an opposite direction. Perhaps she did see his act of heroism, and Sidon savored the idea that she was proud of him. 

“Prince Sidon!” Kayden exclaimed, his feathery peers looking newly humbled by Sidons presence, along with chieftain Kaneli who eyed the prince with intense gratitude. “You went all doctor on that thing!"

"Speaking of doctor, you should have him looked at." Sidon gestured at the foolhardy grey Rito over his shoulder.

"I- I wish I could find the proper words to thank you, young man!" The chieftain blurted, his voice shaky with emotion. "I nearly had a heart attack when Medoh got so close, I haven't been that terrified since the calamity!" The elder held out a wing, and Sidon shook it carefully. "If there's anything you need, anything at all, let me know. My people are in your debt." The prince looked to the grey Rito, and back to the elder.

"There is something I could have you do, actually. See to it this man is punished in some way for what he's done." He plopped the injured Rito on an abandoned kiosk, and motioned for the chieftain. "If you lack the jail cells, there are some in the Zora domain-" 

"Wh- pardon me, but what is it that he's done?" Sidon furrowed, feeling some of that white hot anger flare up within him. 

"He hit my partner, Link, insulted her without reprieve. He put Rito village in _peril,_ when I had a plan to tame Medoh much more elegantly, and he had many of your own soldiers point arrows directly at me. Punish them as well." The chieftain looked heartbroken, glancing quickly at the soldier. He took a deep breath, and let out a loud, strange skipping whistle. In response to this, the prince could hear the thick wooden door of the Tapping Swan open and slam shut.

"Ah...I...I don't know what to say, Prince Sidon." Sidon sighed. 

"Just say it will be done, and I will consider us on equal grounds." Kaneli squeezed his eyes shut, and rubbed just above his beak. 

"It will be done. It's been quite some time since we've actually used our cells. Such places are where drunks usually go when they're particularly...unruly." The barkeep from the night previous approached cautiously. "Kindly look Riali over, would you?" The chieftain mumbled. "He's a few broken ribs, Valoo knows what else." Sidon leaned against the kiosk, feeling his adrenaline leave him, and his hangover threatening to pound against his head furiously once again.

"I just cannot see a future where such injustices are left unpunished. If we are to coexist, we must do so without spilling each others' blood." Kaneli nodded as the peacock feathered barkeep carried the unconscious soldier up the spire.

"I agree. I suppose I had relaxed regulations, allowed people to do as they pleased, simply because I felt horrible for what the Calamity did to my people."

"I know that pressure all too well, but we are to stand on our feet now, Chieftain Kaneli. You, and any rulers ahead of you are to take part in keeping this land in harmony. I'm sending a few of my own soldiers in time to ensure you and your people enact this punishment system, it shall be signed and sealed by both your head of army, and my own. Just like it used to be done." Sidon went in for a handshake of his own, a symbol of good faith.

"An unexpected change after all these years, but, consider it done, Prince Sidon." The grand giant Medoh cast an echoing birdsong in the chilly air, and from a rocky point, it nestled and pointed its cannons eastward. The beam shot from its beak to what remains of Hyrule castle, and just as it did this, the ground quaked intensely. It quickly became hard for the village people at large to find their footing, and for a moment, the Prince felt like the tall Rito spire may topple over due to such intense tremors. The shaking abated, half of the items traders have left out were toppled over, fruits spilling out of baskets and leather soaking in the snow dampened soil.

"Heavens, what in the realm was that?" Kaneli hooted meekly, looking to the Zora scholar for an answer, yet it was Sidon that had a likely theory. His mind grinded to a halt.

The strange and enigmatic interface that resided in the ancient shrine in Kakariko must have been stirring, it must have responded to the beasts' taming.

"That, was a response to me taming Medoh."

"You're joking. From who? How?" Kayden asked, the inquisitive spark that gleamed in the eyes of all scholars twinkled in his own.

“Did you not feel the tremors happen, what, four or so days ago?”

“I just thought seismic activity was common in Hyrule since the calamity.” The Zora scholar mumbled, and Sidon shook his head. 

“You’ll see them when you go out on your excursion. They’re these little entryways called ‘shrines’, and they’re all made of the same strange wiring that runs through all of the beasts.” Sidon shook the slate, and showed the three the map. “If this is correct, all of these orange dots are going to surface.” The scholars gave him unbelieving looks. "Its erm. It's just a working theory. They look like doors, and most likely won't open unless you have a slate."

“Holy-” Kayden exclaimed, “It may not be my place to say, but this may mean we need to appoint people to study this.” Sidon chuckled, sliding the slate back under his robe.

“I think Mona has her sights set on it, but you’re more than welcome to bolster her efforts!” Kayden’s shoulders slumped, and his smile turned to a frown.

“As interesting as it sounds, I just wanna go home to my wife.” Sidon felt his heart drop. _Ah,_ what he wouldn’t give to be near Link again. If he were to leave now, he’d probably be there at two or so in the morning. 

“Yes. Do it Kayden. Go home to your wife and child.” Ponti whispered, a devious grin showing in his eyes. 

“I'll slap you, Ponti.” 

“Oh, I _dare_ you to, fish!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm glad I got to write way more Sidon!
> 
> HEY I GOT TO 200 KUDOS, AND THAT'S REALLY REALLY AWESOME AND YOU PEOPLE MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AAAAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
> 
> I love you all c:


	29. Good compeer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link restlessly and silently waits for Sidon's return, her anxiety attempted to be quelled by the friendly faces in Kakariko, but how are they going to console someone who won't even speak?

"Okay, now push. Leaaad with your wrist, and keep your thumb on the back of the knife." Link stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, listening to Hana talk her through carving a bolt. The Hylian yipped soundlessly as she accidentally slipped, catching her thumb on the delicate whittling knife. Hana drew a sympathetic breath through gritted teeth.

"He-hey! You're getting better already! Now you have a mark to prove it. Here." The girl daubed a bit of fluid on a stretchy line of fabric she fetched from her oversized work apron, and carefully tied it around the Hylian's cut. 

It had been the night prior when Sidon dropped her by Kakariko. Sure, it felt safer there in the warm village, but, she felt so utterly  _ horrible  _ that he was going to try and tame Medoh himself, let alone how exhausted she was from hardly sleeping the night prior. The bandage stung, tied tightly, reddening the skin around the knot. Link picked up her tea from the workshop table, and took a careful sip. The table was one of many lined up snugly against the walls next to rows of hung up saws of differing sizes, planks of fragrant wood in bundles under the numerous workplaces, first aid kits in every nook and cranny. This place was no stranger to accidents, it seemed. The free floating saw dust nearly led the girl into a coughing fit every other second, yet to a woodsmith like Hana, this place was like a wonderland. "You okay there?" Link nodded, and pressed her thumb against the back of the blade. Hana hopped up on the table to sit, and watched the Hylian's fingers intently.

"Go as slow as you want." Her shaky hand slid against the wood grain. 

She felt a lump in her throat, it was sore against her vocal chords.

Link's thumb struggled to fight against the back of the little, scratch covered knife. 

Why was it so difficult for her to speak? She pushed harder; was the blade stuck on something? These thoughts nagged her endlessly, causing her hands to tremble.

Why should some jerk who's never met her tell her how she should feel about her own voice? 

Why did she let him make her feel like such a freak?

_ Snap!  _

The length of wood cracked in half under her white-knuckled pressure. 

"S-...sorry." Link croaked. 

"You're okay. It may not be a good idea to be trying when you're so shaky. The same morning I snuck a drink of my dad's coffee was the same morning I got like...three cuts." Hana looked Link over worriedly. "I talked to Paya when she was doing laundry this morning." The little Shiekah girl studied the broken stick in her bandaged hand. "She'll usually give me grief for being up so early, but she seemed worried about you. I know it's not my business, but I asked, like, a lot. She told me you got hurt, but she didn't tell me how." Her eyes glanced at her bruise that was still throbbing on the Hylian's jaw.

"Bullies." Link whispered.

Hana's shoulders slumped, and she set the broken stick down. Link could see her disappointed friend from the corner of her eye, it was apparent she was struggling to find the right words to comfort her. Hana gently pressed her forehead against Link's arm.

"I'm sorry." She spoke so quietly, it was almost hard to hear her over the morning songbirds conversing outside the workshop. Link rested her chin on the top of Hana's head.

"It's okay." She said weakly, her vocal chords pulling at her throat like the reins of a horse. It felt so debilitating to be so silent.

"You're not a good liar, dummy. You can hardly talk." There was a brief moment where Link smiled at her friend's loving jab. "I don't know much about...well, what you go through with your identity and stuff, but... the first time I met you, and when I say 'you', I mean the real you, I thought 'Oh, of course that's her. That's Link!' 

But...when I saw you this morning...It's almost like someone tried to take that away from you." Link's mind agreed, but she couldn't do much but grind her teeth together, as her friend's words stung like the alcoholic tincture on her cut finger. 

"You matter, Link." Hana's voice was shaky and tearful, as if she was afraid of losing her friend, even if she was right there in front of her. "Don't let them take that happiness away." The Shiekah girl's tears fell on the table. Link was quick to realize how intensely effective her hormonal treatment had been on her mood, as her friend's words and shuddering whines felt tortuous to the Hylian's heartstrings.

"H-hey, Hana, don't cry." Link's words came out painfully, but by Din's fire, she ached to comfort her friend. If by divine fury alone, her throat allowed her to speak. "I'm okay." Hana's crying set off a whirlwind of emotion through Link; she began to lose it, begging her mind to not make her relive the day prior, but it came to her like a charging Lynel. "I'm still here." The Hylian didn't know who she was trying to convince more with those vague words, herself, or Hana. In the there and then, surrounded by either quiet and pleasant people, or outright friendly and chatty ones, she was underneath a blanket of safety in Kakariko, free to be herself, as there were no peeking memories flooding her brain, no boorish Rito soldiers to harass her, there was only a village of people that wanted to see her be herself, put simply. Perhaps it was this thought that eased her throat, or maybe it was working through what had happened the day prior that helped her thoughts straighten themselves out, but after a solid five minutes of crying, she sobered, her head reeling through her teary heavings.

"I'm sorry I sorta just...lost it." Hana mumbled mournfully.

"Why are you sorry?" Hana's eyes flickered with optimism, hearing Link talk without the painful constriction that held her throat just seconds before. She sniffled, and wiped snot on her sleeve.

"I guess I realized you're like a sister to me, and, I've only ever had my dad. There aren't many kids in Kakariko, the ones that I do know think I'm weird. _'Oh, there's that girl that spends too much time with her dad who has hands that look like a Gibdos', better stay three meters away from her and stare at her._ '" Hana sighed as heavily as her lungs would allow. "But, you think I'm normal. I want you to feel normal, too." Link sniffled, and struggled to find the words to explain how she felt in that moment. While she certainly didn't feel _normal,_ her friend's words were like a cold splash of water to her face.

"I hope I'm a good sister." Link's softly spoken words got a gasp out of Hana, and she gave the Hylian a big hug around her neck.

"You're the best, Link." Link felt as though her friend's words were spoken truthfully.

After a moment to let her breathing slow down, Hana heaved herself off the table. 

"Wanna watch me hit metal?" She asked, leaning against a tightly compacted grey stone coal pit that was perfect for her height. She picked up a little hammer that laid on the rim with its handle covered in black soot.

"I'd love to." Her throat throbbed, and it hurt to swallow, but she found her voice was coming back to her, if only in short whispers that left little bursts of manageable pain. 

After stoking the coals, Hana went to work at beating and shaping a long bar of crude, smudgy hot metal, and Link watched as flakes of heated iron shook off the bar as the Shiekah girl struck it repeatedly. It was somewhat strange to see metalwork in a village that primarily utilizes wood. Their homes, consisting of red wooden boards, topped with densely packed straw that acted as ample roofing, along with their simplistic yet sturdy farm equipment, mostly wooden tools for fertilizing soil, and keeping farm animals sheltered during the occasional thunderstorms proved that they prioritized woodwork. The banging of metal made Link's ears flinch involuntarily, like the hammer was striking her head like a drum.

How did Hana do this loud work without losing her hearing altogether?

Renno busted through the door so abruptly, Link assumed it would be accompanied by an outburst of rage, or an exclamation of danger. His calm expression and sun baked smile contradicted this, however.

"Hey, kiddo! Woah! Heya, hero of Hyrule!" 

"She has a name, dad!" Hana groaned as she quenched the hot metal rod, which was now more convincingly molded into the shape of a Hylian shortsword. Seeing the weapon, even without its handle, teased a memory from Link's mind, but she couldn't quite place it. Yes, she remembered seeing a sword in her old bedroom in Hateno that she apparently owned at one point, but there was something about this one. Maybe it had something to do with the banging of metal, the smell of the hot steel in the air that made it that much more vivid. Renno grabbed a tool box, and glanced over at the shy Hylian.

"I know she does! I just think titles like that are special, and should be used at  _ any  _ time." Renno's tone was so carefree, so deep and gruff but full of amusement. "If I had the opportunity to be known throughout history as the Carpenter of Kakariko, I'm pretty sure I'd snatch that opportunity in a heartbeat! Hey, uh, do you wanna help me out with our next house, by the way?" 

"Only if you let me put in the trap door I was telling you about." Renno sighed, rolling his eyes before watching his daughter place the metal sword back into the hot coals.

"I'm not helping you build a trap door with a lizard pit, Hana."

"NO, forget the lizard pit! The lizard pit was a  _ really _ stupid idea, I get it, I’ve come to terms with that! This one drops  _ right  _ into a jail cell! Like  _ boom _ , consider yourself arrested, scummy thief! Enjoy the lumpy straw bed and three square meals a day, you ne'er-do-well!" Link snort laughed, which seemed to amuse the girl. 

"I'm not adding a jail pit to Lasli's son's home, it seems a bit overkill. He's not even old enough to inherit it yet." 

"Then  _ ask  _ him!" 

"He's three." 

"Okay! He's old enough to make decisions on the jail pit!"

"Yeah, well I'm old enough to tell you I love you, aaand I'm that I'm leaving the crazy conversation." Renno gave his daughter a quick kiss on the head. 

"Bah! Okay daaad, I'll be there in a bit."

"Uh-huh." He mumbled, before shutting the door behind him. 

"Will  _ you _ help me make the jail pit?" Hana asked sarcastically. 

"Iunno if trap door making is a good career path." Link cleared her throat as she spoke.

"You too? Tsk. Okay, what do you think so far?" Hana handed the shortsword to Link, a reliably lightweight weapon, unfinished, yet still familiar even with its unsharpened, untempered blade.

"It's...familiar." she mumbled, running a finger across the warm ashy surface. It was common for standard Hylian infantry to hold these, foot soldiers who patrolled the town proper, that much she could remember. She recalled sitting at a fountain in that towns square, surrounded by bustling townsfolk in her foggy haze of remembrance. 

"Familiar?" 

"Yeah. You know I was Princess Zelda's bodyguard, right?"

Hana blinked.

"Well yeah, I know thaaat. Did you see a lot of them or something?" A clearer picture began to form before her, but just as she was near an epiphany, she lost it.

“Probably.” She mumbled thoughtfully, wishing she could have caught the memory as it passed her by. “I just know a lot of knights used to have these. Every single one that I can remember.” 

“Well now I have one. Does that make me a knight?”

“If you showed Princess Zelda that sword, she’d dub you an honorary knight on the spot. It’s perfect.” 

“Pfft, I haven't even carved out the hilt yet.” Link drank the rest of her tea, feeling the warm liquid soothe her aching throat. She could hardly feel the bruise on her face, but could feel the claw marks underneath her stomach’s bandage pulsate painfully along with her heartbeat. Just another scar on her front to feel embarrassed about. She shook the crawling anxieties aside, and spoke.

“You ever think of learning how to use the weapons you make?” Hana shook her head no without much thought.

“I dunno if I’m much of a fighter, Link. I don’t even know how you do it.” Link shrugged, handing the sword back into Hana’s fire-protectant gloved hand.

“It’s not that bad, I usually just let my instincts carry me through the fight. If you're fighting like Paya, there's a lot to it, but if you're hunting or fighting bokoblins, it's easy." The Shiekah girl set the sword back in the coals, and leaned against the cobblestone pit. It was a wonder her hairs weren't singed from all the heat coming from the smouldering fire.

"If it is, I'll never know. I couldn't ever hurt anyone or anything. I can't even bring myself to fish, but, I like helping out this way." Link met her gaze, and gave an understanding nod.

"You won't fish, but you'll make a jail pit." Link said with a grin.

"I'll  _ absolutely  _ make a jail pit! Justice has to be done somehow!"

It was about midday, and Link waved goodbye to her little Shiekah friend who was armed with a tool belt, going to help her father work on the newest addition to Kakariko.

They sure were quick with the building, hardly getting help from many other townsfolk. Hana may have been good with finer details, working well with things you could hold in your hands, but her dad? Her dad was a  _ machine  _ when it came to big projects.  __

She stood in the middle of the sleepy village, peering over to the east to study Vah Medoh as it loomed in the sky. She rubbed her luminous stone necklace, and found herself praying to every goddess to assure Sidon's safety, since she couldn't be his bodyguard. She couldn't be there to save him if he got hurt.

_ He's safe, Link. He's buff, seven feet tall and has a smile you can't not fall in love with, of course he's okay. Right? _

_ Right? _

_... _

_ I hope he's okay. _

_ "Oi!"  _ Mona chirped from the direction of the subterranean Shiekah temple, waving a hand as she approached with Paya close behind. The events of the night prior consisted of a barrage of worry from her friends, with Mona and Paya questioning Link just after Sidon left her, and stopping once they realized she wouldn't talk. They tried their best to make her smile, though, as Mona did her best impression of Muzu and it got her to chuckle. 

Sidon was right, though. As much as she missed him, coming here was a good move, she knew she was in good, and healing hands. 

"Wanna come get lunch with us?"

"I'd love to." Link said with a smile. Both Mona and Paya's eyebrows raised in surprise at hearing Link's voice returned to her.

Even as they walked to the cozy sushi bar, Link found it hard to keep her eyes off of Vah Medoh, her mind rifling through every detrimental scenario she could imagine befalling her handsome prince. 

“He'll be alright, Link.” Mona said worriedly, watching the Hylian pick at her sushi.

“Does it not w-worry you, even a bit?” Paya asked, and Mona tensed up at her question, eyeing daggers at the girl for making Link more nervous than she already was.

“Honestly? Yeah, he's the prince of my people." She popped a piece of sashimi into her mouth, and spoke through chews. "But, he's been the unofficial first in command of the Zora army forever. Ever since I can remember, I've heard story after story of him protecting the domain from rabid Lizalfos." 

"He's reckless." Link mumbled under her breath, remembering the Lizalfos raid that took place under the blanket of freezing rain and night. It still makes her cringe to think of how close that makeshift, barbaric lightning spear was to him, how it nearly grazed him in his attempts to protect his own domain. "He can't fend for himself. He's too selfless."

Mona glanced at the Hylian sadly. It appeared she didn't disagree, and that made Link all the more worried. Regardless of the prince's promise to be more careful with his own life, Link could only imagine what Sidon would do since she was hurt.

"Lemme put it this way," Mona started, "the underground temple gave you that weird metal grabbing thingy, right?" Link nodded, her ears drooped. "That wasn't just a gift! They knew what they were doing when you got that! Prince Sidon will be fine, because he has the answer to taming Medoh! It's like a big net!” 

There was a distinct pause, and Paya nudged up against the girl, as if saying ‘you tried your best.’ 

This pep talk did little to convince her, but it was almost all she had for comfort. She'd been swept off her feet by this sweet and caring man who'd do anything for her, and just as soon as she started to feel comforted in his embraces, accustomed to that big, sweet grin, he left to bear a burden that she was supposed to face alone. How could she do that to him?

How could she let him go without her?

_ Ugh, snap out of it, Link. _

The day dragged on through lunch, and drearily drew to a close with Link sliding the door to the Kakariko inn suite closed behind her. It smelled like traders from all walks of life in her room. She tried to enjoy her day spending her time with her friends, yet she found it hard to when all she could do was think about Sidon, and peer at the still looming Medoh every chance she got.

She didn't even bother taking her clothes off as she applied her treatment and laid down on the comfortable futon resting on the dark wooden floor. Maybe if she fell asleep, perhaps by some miracle she'd wake up next to him. Next to his tall, warm body that she could just wrap her arms around and never let go of.

Her eyes were adjusted to the low light that was peeking through the cracks of the door to the inns lobby, and she watched the floating dust particles hovering harmlessly through it. If she stared at that door long enough, just how long would it be until his shadow snuffed out the light in the doorway, and illuminated from behind him as he opened that thin wooden door?

Yes, there he'd be, towering over her and speaking quiet greetings in that low timbre that made her chest swell and her body shiver. Perhaps he'd have a cut in his robe, along with a tale of his epic triumph over evil while they were apart. But maybe after all of those tales, after all of the greetings, he'd fall to a serious tone, and tell her that all he wants is a life by her side once this is all over. The very thought sent shivers across her skin in ripples. 

Goddess, how she just wanted to give herself to him, her loyalty and her love, to give him her body, for his gaze to her form in the flowery, Great Fairy Spring they made love in made her feel more unquestionably female than any word could do, and she absolutely knew he was aware of this. How could someone so new to her situation be so utterly understanding of it? Link's chest bubbled with a warmth not unlike the one she felt when she first laid eyes on him. Her fingers ran through her hair in frustration as she waited, listening to her own breathing in the quiet room.

He must be freezing in that unforgiving weather, the dead grass and powdery snow licking his ankles like frosty barbs. It must be horrible for him. Link shifted uncomfortably in her bed. As long as she waited, sleep would not come to her, and oh, how badly did she want it. 

At the very least, the night bugs chirping just outside and the flowery smell of the Kakariko night brought her some semblance of peace. It was just cool enough for her to enjoy the weighty blankets draped over her, but not overly chilly. Waking up shivering, plagued by cold ears and fingertips like she had the night previous was not ideal, and she could only imagine how much worse she'd have it if she didn't have Vah Ruta to sleep in, to be faced with the harsh cold, leather tents and hastily crafted fire pits in the middle of dangerous territory with cold muddy trails and slippery, rocky detours. It was no wonder traders she'd seen had a tendency to travel in parties, groups of four or five to take turns keeping watch during the night to stay vigilant of prowling predators.

Her mind continued to wander, her eyes growing heavy, and just as she began to question how long she had been in that futon, her mind finally relaxed enough to enter a restless dreamstate.

Just before she let go into her slumber, she recalled her day once over, remembering the shape of the Hylian shortsword, how its unassuming blade was nowhere near intimidating enough to slow the pace of anything beastly, but placed in the hands of the barbaric Hylian soldiers, it did its job perfectly, purely by the skill of the hands that wielded it.

  
  


\------------------------------------------------------------

Link flicked a green rupee in the fountain, watching the ripples that reflected the statue of the goddess Hylia directly in the middle of Hyrule’s town square. Among the cobblestone streets that branched off into the sections of town, people wandered in and out from market street to their densely packed homes that hugged the worn stone roads. It was awfully packed for such a nice summer day, as during the warmer months a considerable margin of Hylian people either went to Hebra to escape such blistering heat, or spent it in Akkala, enjoying the warm ocean breeze, yet, the town has been abuzz with the upcoming ceremony to knight the four champions, and the recent Divine Beast excavations had people afraid for the next coming of Ganon. So long as he wasn't forced to bear the bitter cold of Hebra, Link was at least mildly satisfied with the weather. The Hylian was technically on duty, usually tasked with following Princess Zelda close behind wherever she went, but in this specific instance, he was told not to come along.

Of course, what business does a Hylian man have in a dressmaker shop? She was currently being fitted for something more appropriate for the ceremony, and if anything, she was saving him from embarrassment, being seen in such a place by the patrolling Hylian soldiers would make him even more anxious than he already was normally. 

He wondered what she would be wearing for the momentous occasion. The Princess had a tendency to be fitted with simplistic, formal dresses for the occasional offhand event or holiday, and afterward the garment would be stuffed and forgotten in her oversized wardrobe. What would she do if he were to perhaps...take one of them when she wasn't looking? Would she miss it? She didn't notice he had taken several of her garments previously, a risky feat he still kicked himself for doing, and he found himself wearing those quite often.

What would he look like in a dress? Maybe something long, and flowing. Perhaps a deep velvety red gown, with ribbons and embellishments lining it's ends. 

He shook his head, embarrassed of his own intrusive thoughts. His urges to dress himself in that way has been nudging him more and more lately, and he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't just the stolen underwear anymore, he needed a change, but couldn't pinpoint  _ what  _ that change needed to be, and it drove him to the point of no sleep.

A glint caught his eye amongst the crowd, the shine of a recently polished Hylian shortsword, along with the accompanying knight's armor, it’s familiar red plume bobbing and swaying as the knight walked.

He was a blocky faced soldier, an almost chubby Hylian in his mid twenties. From afar, he's always seemed a bit loud and bearish with his friends, but sweet nonetheless. As he approached, Link could see the finer details of his face; dark brown eyes, and sweaty, short black hair mostly hidden by his helmet. How someone could stand the intense heat in those armor sets in the summer months was a mystery to Link, as it appeared he wasn't even remotely uncomfortable. Even in the somewhat breezy blue buttoned Royal Guard garb did Link have trouble not overheating. 

"Mind if I sit?" The man asked casually, and plopped down next to Link with the clank of plate and chainmail after he wordlessly nodded. He smelled like the outdoors.

“Ey, ah, me and some of the battalion were planning on going to Felled Pheasant tonight, you wanna come along?" Link raised his eyebrows quizzically. He'd never been invited to anything the knights did, as he assumed they simply didn’t like him. Link nodded dumbly, and the clunky armored soldier wiped his brow.

"For being our good Lady's guard, you always have the look of someone with too much time on his hands, so I thought I'd ask." He flashed a smile, exposing a noticeable chipped front tooth in an otherwise perfect set of teeth. "I'm Daras, by the way. I don't know your name. In fact, I don't believe I've ever heard you speak."

"Link." He said simply, and smacked his hands over his mouth, darting his eyes to the fountain water in disbelief. He'd barely ever spoken more than one word at a time around people he'd known for years, so to let that slip with so little effort was odd indeed. Daras' expression scrunched confusedly, and he glanced behind him and back.

"What? Have I got something on my face? You look as though you've seen a poe, mate!" Link shook his head feverishly. Daras suppressed a laugh. "You're a strange little bugger, aren't you, Link?" Link blushed and shrugged, feeling the noisy crowd of townspeople cloud his thoughts. "No, but really, I would have gotten you sooner, it's just the people I trade shifts with, they're always on about how you never speak, somethin about the quiet warrior types being the ones you’re not supposed to mess with."

The day went by uneventfully, save for the constant pangs of nervousness he felt about joining his comrades in the Felled Pheasant, a popular dining hall. He was stood stationed outside of Zelda's quarters, waiting restlessly for her to relinquish him for the day. 

The large door to her room was opened, and the princess swung her head from around the corner to speak.

"Link." She motioned him inside. He looked left and right down the long and spotless quiet halls outside of her room, confused by her request. He was always nervous to enter her quarters, as it just felt... _ forbidden _ , in a way. She generally brought him in to talk to while she was knee deep in her studies, or while she was leafing through books in an otherwise silent meditation; while the conversations were usually one sided, she always enjoyed his company, and he certainly didn't mind not being alone. Her work desk was more scattered with papers and aged tomes than ever, and it was the only place in her room that wasn't completely spotless. "With all due respect to my dressmakers, I'd like an opinion from someone who  _ isn't  _ trying to curry favor with me." She fetched a box from atop her made bed, and opened it with haste, pulling aside some thin wrapping paper to reveal a rather formal white evening gown, complete with extravagantly precise trimmings near its ends. Zelda had always worn garments that reflected her attention to function over form. Simplistic tan pants, brown belts and muted colored tops with Hylian designs, basics that held little flair, more fitting for someone who spent their time traveling Hyrules vast array of elements, testing the sturdiness of her garments with frequent visits to Lanyru and Gerudo. 

This, however, reflected just the opposite of that style. Beautiful gold Gerudo arm bangles, a golden circlet, as well as a tight metal belt to hug one's midriff and allow the dress accentuate one's form, complete with a golden insignia of the triforce right on the belts face all went along with the long and flowing evening gown. All of the metal in this outfit was no doubtedly done by the hands of a Gerudo smith, and by Hylia, it was all so absolutely breathtaking. 

Link's heart raced heavily in his chest as he watched her hold it up to her body.

“Do you think it’s a bit... _ much?  _ Lady Urbosa helped me plan it out, that trip we took last month to Gerudo town had me hashing out the finer details with their own smith, yet, seeing it with my own eyes, I’m rather afraid some in our circle won't appreciate such combinations of Royal Hylian and Gerudo outfitting.” Zelda quirked a brow, and studied the Hylian who was in a trance looking over the dress. “Are you alright?”

"Huh? Y-yes."

"Do  _ you  _ think it's too much?" Link swallowed hard, and mumbled quietly.

"It's beautiful." Zelda gave an optimistic look of relief, yet it quickly changed back to one of worry as she set the garment down, watching Link's eyes follow the dress with longing.

"Well, you look as if you're speaking truthfully." she said softly, giving a humbling smile that could cause budding flowers to bloom. "It is quite mesmerizing, isn't it?"

"You s-shouldn't let them tell you what to wear." He said in a hoarse whisper, an amount of words that surprised the princess.

"Oh, those old chancellors can't sway me one way or the other, it's just such an important event, I simply want nothing to go wrong. To get an objection halfway through the most important ceremony in my lifetime simply due to my attire would be embarrassing to say the least, and knowing my father, he would be on their side." She sat on her bed, and rubbed the shining golden belt with a manicured finger. "This is a loving rendition of a particularly old Hylian dress design made in a Gerudo image. I just couldn't do without Urbosa's advice. She seems to know what looks good on me more than I do, and it shows." She huffed a quick sigh. "I suppose I should relinquish you, then, hm? I could go on about anything with you if I didn't stop myself, and I feel you wouldn't do anything to stop me. Remember that night you fell asleep on my floor? Me, talking your ears off about my passing interest in Goron mythology?" Link felt his chest tighten. Regardless of her dismissal, he didn't want to be relinquished just yet, and as he removed his Royal Guard cap, he darted his eyes around the room, from her looking glass nearest her bedpost, to her half opened closet, brimming with hastily stuffed forgotten formal wear that Link would absolutely die to sift through. He didn't fully know what he hoped to gain out of it his pause, but there was something that tethered his feet to the floor. Zelda spoke to break the deafening silence. "I know I ask this a fair bit, but are you alright? Is it the knighting ceremony that bothers you?" Link nearly ground his teeth to dust, gripped his hat as if his life depended on it, and shook his head no.

"I...have a problem." Zelda looked at him as if he were a lost puppy that was showing her a thorn in his paw. 

"It's quite alright to explain." Link sat beside her, and twisted his cap in his hands, his skin prickled with anxiety beneath his coat. What was he  _ doing?  _ Zelda was not by any means one to pass judgement too harshly, but how would she treat him if he were to tell her something so taboo? Something so  _ unheard  _ of? 

"It's...strange." Zelda frowned, and spoke in a motherly tone.

"Well, it's got you talking, Link. I cannot have my champion feeling so distraught in such a decisive time. This knighting is  _ tomorrow _ , and I'd like the both of us to be in good spirits for our trek next week with the rest of the champions, so let me hear it." As disrespectful as it felt, Link couldn't bear to lock eyes with the princess, his gaze simply wandered aimlessly on the white carpeted floor. She took another shot at getting his attention. "I'm not my father, dear champion. You're not simply my tasked guard, none of this is just business. You're my compeer. My friend. You can tell me."

"I took a few of your things." Link blurted quietly. Immediately, he regretted his actions, biting the inside of his lip and flinching. 

He struggled to look up, to meet her studying gaze. The princess was as silent as a stone for a few dense seconds, but just before his nerves threatened to force his body to run away, she cut the tension free and spoke politely.

"I know you did." His blood ran cold, and his heart sank in an endless frozen pit in his stomach. "I was honestly so perplexed as to why, I never could find a way to ask you for your reasoning." She stared at him, silently wanting an answer to the question she could never find the words to ask.

"I...don't..." he stuttered to a full halt, and caught his fleeing breath. Goddess, he was going to get drawn and quartered for this. "I'm not sure." She let out a patient sigh. 

"Come, Link. If you have some ladyfriend who fancies my dress wear, you can simply ask. I can task my handmaidens to fashion any garment I wish, you do not have to steal from me."

"Not a friend." Zelda cocked her head.

"A lover?" By the goddesses, she wasn't making this simple, that much was apparent on her increasingly worried face. Link guiltily pointed at himself.

"Me. For me." She scoffed, a sound of both anger and disbelief. His blood was no longer cold in his veins, it was frozen. 

“What?!  _ By the eight, if you had an interest in me you could have-”  _ Link’s eyes widened, and he held his hands out as if preparing to be struck by the enraged girl, he was just trying to get a word in edgewise. __

“I wear them!"

"You w…" She stuttered, her voice deflating back to a confused, and worried tone. Link had never heard his own voice get so loud before, and he imagined the princess was just as shocked. "You wear my clothing?"

Link could barely bring himself to nod, but did so so slowly that Zelda could barely recognize the gesture. He expected her to look disgusted, yet, she only looked curious.

"What drives you to do so?" She asked as if she was afraid he'd bumped his head and lost his mind, like a mother afraid for her child.

Link cleared his throat, and forced himself to speak.

"They just feel...right." Again, the confused princess cocked her head, and watched as Link tapped his foot nervously on the floor.

"My champion, please, take a moment and breathe. I've never seen you shake like this before." She placed a hand on his hat, the one he was wrestling in a vice grip in his hands. Her touch was caring; one of sympathy. 

"I was so afraid you'd be angry." 

" _ Link, _ you're not going to find the edge of a sword in my kingdom for your  _ preference of clothing _ . I can’t say I  _ fully  _ understand, but If I had a rupee for every time my father has criticized what I think looks good on me, I'd have more than the sum of my own inheritance." Link held a breath of confusion, and he let her words sink in, as it was hard to process all of this at the same time.

Could that be it? Was wearing clothes like hers just a  _ preference? _

"So if it's what you prefer, so it shall be. It  _ is  _ what you prefer, yes?" Link blushed furiously. He thought of the times he'd be happy to find a place alone just to wear feminene underwear, a moment's respite to wear one of those tops and simply relax. Until just then, he thought his urges to be a curse, but listening to Zelda's reasoning, yes, maybe it was indeed a preference. 

"Y...yes." The princess smiled. 

"Then come! Luckily, you and I are similar in size, so, let's find something that suits your tastes." She gave a wink, and hopped off of her soft bed. 

As she slid her closet door open, Link's heart swelled with joy, and his mind was struggling to piece together just what was going on as she piled him with garments of all shapes and colors.

She told him of how close she was to ditching some of those tops, some of those dresses she simply wore once just to get an event out of the way. 

“They’ll be much better in the hands of someone who needs them, Link.”

As she handed him article upon article, her expression became more worried, more contemplative, and less cheery than it had been just moments before. 

“Listen, I don't know to what extent you plan on wearing these, but I must ask that you not...wear them around my father, or the rest of the soldiers. Or um...out in Hyrule castle.” Link’s ears drooped. He wasn’t thinking of wearing anything feminene anywhere but in his own company, as it was only now that he realized he wasn’t a complete freak for having these urges, but now that he thought of it, the idea was a nice one. But, only girls wear girl clothes outside of their homes, and it would look foolish for him to go out in anything but his royal wear, or his tunics in Hateno. 

He felt the bitter taste of worry in the back of his throat, as something about this just didn’t sit right. Regardless of this, he hesitantly agreed, thinking of how stringent King Rhoam can be with not only the knightly dress-code, but the dress-code of anyone who he oversaw in his own inner circle. Link would never say it out loud, but believed the king was a bit of a control freak, and if he asked her, Zelda would tell him the same. Not only was this an obstacle, but the already mostly-hylian population of Hyrule castle generally disliked anyone who was different from themselves.

“I wish it were different, Link.” 

“It’s okay.” He mumbled understandably, and she straightened her back and frowned. 

“No, it isn’t.” She crossed her arms, and sighed. “My fathe-”

“You don’t know how much this means to me.” He interrupted with a nervous voice. “This is good enough, I mean it.” His words weren’t by any means convincing, but it seemed that Zelda needed to hear them nonetheless, as her shoulders slumped, and she sighed in relief to herself. Truthfully, he was beginning to like the idea of wearing these clothes out in public. His mind thought of referring to himself as female, and it sent his heart into a wild thumping. Perhaps one step at a time, though, as he only just now had someone who somewhat understood his situation.

“It’s good to hear you say so, but know that I will do my best to assure your comfort in my kingdom. You can go, if you wish.”

“Thank you, princess.” She smiled, and studied his expression for any shred of dishonesty in his joy. Zelda had a tendency to read him more than he was privy to, but in this instance, he was fully aware she knew he wasn’t completely satisfied.

“Off you go then, good compeer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking around! I've had this one ready for a while, I just really wanted to be sure It was perfect first :D There's more to this flashback sequence, I'm just gonna release the rest in the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> I love you all!


	30. Absolute Din-fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still sifting through memories recently unearthed, Link remembers that not all of her previous life was that horrible. Was it going in the right track all along?

He walked down the spotless hallways of the castle, his footsteps clacking and reverberating off of the cold stone walls and colorful portraits of the royal family dating back generations, holding in his arms the various articles of clothing he couldn’t wait to try on. It would be hard to do this in plain sight, however, just as the hallways were, the barracks were completely empty; not a soul was sleeping in the various bunks reserved for the higher order of Hylian knights such as himself.

He undid the lock of his personal clothing cabinet, a luxury that only a handful of knight captains, several commanders, and himself were permitted (another luxury being the marginally improved bedding in comparison to the numerous footsoldier bunks downstairs), and stuffed his new clothing in the drawer.

He heaved a heavy sigh as he snapped closed the lock, it was as if he were shutting away that part of him once again. Sure, he’d gotten something off of his chest that was nagging at him for so long, but, what was he to do now? Just wear those clothes alone, inside his barely lived in two-roomed home in Hateno forever like some hermit?

 _What is wrong with me?_ He thought, and slumped himself back on the red sheets of his mattress, attempting to put words to how he felt as he stared at the ceiling. His skin didn’t feel like his own in both a literal, and figurative sense. A part of him just wanted to peel that facade off, but where to start? His gravelly voice? His blocky shoulders? Why shouldn't he appreciate having qualities some men could only dream of?

Ah, and to top it all off, he's only one day from the most important event in recent Hyrule history, yet it was so far from his mind. Thank Hylia he wouldn't have to be preparing any speeches like the rest of the champions were tasked with doing. His shift was over, and his sword's hilt was starting to dig uncomfortably into his side. After laying the weapon by his bedside and meditating for just a few moments more, the small Hylian navigated the various twists and turns of the castles innards, reluctantly making his way to the Felled Pheasant.

As he walked the red carpeted halls, passing suits of armor neatly stacked on either side of the walls, he noted the few Rito and Gerudo people on his way. He didn't know where their rooms were, but the four champions were somewhere in the castle, preparing speeches for the next day's event. Those champions all arrived a few days before, each accompanied by their own armies, philosophers, anyone that considered themselves close to the champions were welcome, all making themselves at home for the small time being so the event can go as smoothly as possible. Of course, most of the champions are considered royalty and officially recognized as such by the Hyrule royal family, so it was one of the more inclusive and welcoming events that Rhoam had helped coordinate.

Link could only wonder where those champions were, though. Zelda hadn't mentioned or seen Lady Urbosa all day, a person to whom she was quite attached to when she had the chance to be, and Link hadn't seen Princess Mipha all day either, who was usually hovering around him when she wasn't being pestered by her little brother. Mipha had taken a liking to Link the first time he'd ever arrived in the domain, and Link never could guess why. He couldn't complain, though, as the few times they have spent together were calm and quiet, almost serene. Link stepped out into the night from the gated bridge connecting the castle to the rest of town. The night watchmen that held posts in the streets had a grueling task at hand, as the city was full of impromptu drunken partying from its residents.

It was indeed quite the cause for celebration, the thought-to-be impenetrable and inevitable invasion of Ganon was being labeled as a mere annoyance now that the Divine Beasts have been unearthed and reactivated. As everyone in Hyrule knew, Ganon was a constant in life, a curse that while predictable, was unable to be slowed from causing mass casualties as it has countless times before. Whether the manifestation of the fiend came as a massive pig-like beast, a devilish interloper, or many of the undocumented enigmatic forms it had taken, Ganon was to every innocent an unstoppable force through and through. 

Rounding a corner, minding to not step in the path of a happy group of young drunks, the brimming torchlight and sounds of merriment spilled out of the aged double doors of the Felled Pheasant. 

This spot was generally for more gruff older types, or perhaps energetic soldiers looking for a quick way to rest their nerves and fill their bellies. The faded old sign was affixed to the front of the plainly shaped face of the bar, calligraphic text that dazzled the eyes. _Fine ale and finer people,_ the older knight captains would tell him, a futile attempt to get Link to join in their merriment, an attempt to include him that just never took, yet it was something about Daras’ kindness that drew him here tonight, something that told him he’d be safe if he were to partake. Anything was better than being stuck in his bunk like he normally was. 

The small pinpricks of stars reflected off of pools of rainwater that collected in the imperfections of the cobblestone streets. 

Passing through the crowd, pushed every which way helplessly by the drunken patrons like a field mouse in a den of swarming rats, the longest table in the dining hall held the majority of Hyrule castle's battalion. The royal Hylian line had under their employ a vast array of personalities, old or young, men or women, it did not matter as long as they burned to protect their people, and could swing a sword with righteous intent.

Among the rowdy partygoers in the warmly lit hall, dressed in long casual white coat was Impa reluctantly nursing a mug of Hylian ale. When she was on her shift, the warrior opted to blend in with such simple garb, keeping an eye out for mostly any internal threat of espionage inside of the kingdoms walls. This wasn't a very likely threat, as the track record for such attempts on the kings life were so few and far between, but Impa was always thorough to a point. Even if she was surrounded by an army that would lay down their lives to protect the kingdom, Impa carried herself like she could do it single handedly, and knowing her, Link knew she would have no trouble actually doing so. Impa sat with her elbows on the table, hunched over and hiding her face as thick laughter erupted around them.

"Aha, there you are!" Before he could get Impa’s attention, Link was pulled by an arm demandingly by a gloved hand, and blushed as he realized it belonged to Daras, who was no longer wearing his helmet. His short black haircut was a common cut for a lot of the knights, nearly buzzed on the sides and allowing a small tuft to curl out freely near his forehead. His smirk was polite, but full of adrenaline and excitement, as if Link was the largest Hyrule bass he’d ever caught, and the knight was showing him off to the rest of his friends. "My friends! This one, this is our good lady's silent sword! His name is Link!" Daras spoke loudly to call the attention of some of the table, but most were too preoccupied in their own conversations.

Link waved a nervous hand at the few who were eyeing him down. He shot his gaze to Impa, who looked at him with surprised recognition, and smiled to herself as Link was almost forcibly sat down next to Daras.

"You ever get tired?" A bushy eyebrowed man asked curiously, leaning his arm on the table and resting his chin on his wrinkled hand. "I've never seen you so much as touch your sword. Don't you wish you were out fighting? Holding posts?"

"Leave the kid alone, Laybert." A griseled woman about the man's age next to him spoke. "He's relieved to escort the Princess in the realm every week. Guy probably kills more bandits in a month than you've dismantled practice dummies in your whole life." Link almost laughed out loud, thinking of how boring those outings would actually sound to these soldiers who mostly stood posts in the town. In truth, Link was often tasked with training newer recruits stationed at checkpoints around Hyrule when he wasn't escorting the Princess, and when he was doing that escorting, nothing dangerous had ever happened to him or her. The man furrowed. 

"C'mon now, I was just curious. No need to get personal I haven’t seen the kid talk to any of us. Not once!"

Daras leaned forward, his bulky silver metal chest piece was pushing up against the edge of the table. 

"You ever get in any fights out there, Link?" Link shook his head as Daras took a drink of ale. "Not _one?_ The wilds aren’t as wild as they say, that right? Not so much as a toothy boar or a ruffled lynel?” Again, he shook his head. “No bandits? No thieves or swindlers by the roads?” Link smiled, and fidgeted his fingers in his lap. Even if he felt comfortable speaking, he wouldn’t really know what to say, as Daras sounded downright disappointed.

The soldier swiped his sweaty hair, and leaned an arm against the table. Most likely, him and the rest of his crew had a different idea of what the realm was really like day by day. As trade routes strengthened, roads tended to be safer, as even the most foolhardy knew that attempting thievery had no real returns; it was just easier than ever to find a place to call their own in the ever-growing realm. With places like East Outpost and North Outpost village, growing village conglomerates like the foresty village of Goponga, it streamlined trade and lead to an overabundance of food and work, leaving not much point for mischief.

“My dad used to tell me this story, eh? He was stationed at Helmhead before King Roam took over, the road northeast of the castle, you know the place.” A short, chip-toothed knight with a bandana on his head piped up from across the table.

“Oh come on, Daras! If I have to hear this story one more time, my head is gonna explode!”

“Bugger off, Niko. You know the king knighted you because you’re the only one short enough to take a Hinox down by its ankle.” The mousy knight chuckled.

“I'm gonna take that as a compliment!”

“Anyway, he was a part of a small group of knights protecting that road from possible ‘assassination groups’ spoke of in hushed rumors around the castle, about had the King scared to death, so he issued only his best knights to protect him. The two biggest roads that held the most traffic were the one to Gerudo village nearest Windvane, and Helmhead, so my father found himself many a night sleeping in shifts with his mates up there.” 

The knight ripped a bite of turkey leg, and pointed it at Link, who was listening intently, muscles relaxed from their previous tension.

“One of his mates wakes my father up one early morning, says a trader with a cart of cabbage broke its wheel, and needs him and the rest of the knights to help lift it up to put a new one on. Happens all the time, yeh? Poor guy’s got a heavy load for trade, hauls it across a pretty bumpy road and a wheel is bound to break every once in a while. Now, my father wasn’t the smartest man, but he knew something wasn’t right. He’d never seen that trader before, never known the traders to use that road to haul a vegetable grown in Hateno so far north. As they lifted that cart, absolute Din-fire broke loose. A group of bandits, a group en route to take that cart past any security checkpoint in the castle all came out right from under that layer of cabbage, and If my father hadn’t held his gauntlet to his neck to scratch his face, he’d have his throat sliced up just like the rest of his battalion. Absolute bloody massacre, it was.” Link's eyes were wide in surprise, which amused Daras with a lighthearted chuckle. Such a travesty was unheard of in that day and age, as Link hadn’t heard much other than simple petty thievery happening in bigger places like the castle and Gerudo Town, and nothing so much as a loony murder a year in the otherwise peaceful realm.

“Like I said, my father wasn’t a clever man, but he could fight. With naught but his sword, he put an end to those assassins before they could even assure their own footing. Not a week later, he was back on that road with a new rotation of knights. Saw his whole battalion bleed out at his feet, and could only ask to keep going out on lookout. Man was an absolute animal. They even had him memorialized after it happened, had his portrait done and put right outside the old King’s quarters.” Link tried to recall, remembering a painting of a lazy-eyed man right next to that old, dusty room. “Lazy eyed one? Grey twisted moustache? Looks half asleep?" Link recalled, all right. That painting in particular always unnerved him. His black bushy eyebrows drew his gaze, and his piercing blue eyes kept his attention. It always felt like one of the man's eyes was affixed on him, watching him as he walked by. 

"Anyways, I suppose I should be thankful the realm is a much safer place to tread than it used to be, but to men such as myself, I'm always itching to use my sword arm. Maybe sometime I could test your mettle, eh? I'd like to see the kind of skill the princess has at her side." Link met the knight's eyes as he said this. He could swear something about Daras changed in those few seconds, his stare was so subtly different in intent. He was more earnest, and he studied Link as one would a curious bauble, one that's practically begging to be observed. It was a strange feeling to be studied in that way. "Or, perhaps, if you ever find a nice opportunity, I'd love to tag along on one of your trips." Link fiddled his fingers in his lap even more intensely, not out of nervousness, but his hands were mimicking the speed at which his mind was racing. He'd only ever been accompanied by a knight captain to assure he'd been doing well as the princess's bodyguard, but he'd never brought a simple footsoldier along. Regardless, it was a possibility, a possibility he didn't find himself dismissing. "We could hunt--" 

Impa slurred an interruption, and stuttered for a moment before setting her mug on the table and stilling herself. 

"Did I just hear this one invite himself to escort Princess Zelda alongside you?" Daras nervously itched his nose, and slumped back in his chair in defeat. 

"Well, I suppose I did step out of bounds there, eh?" Link's eyes widened, and he gave Impa a side eyed grimace for a split second before meeting his new friend's gaze. Link shook his head, giving Daras a forgiving look. The knight smiled in surprise. "You think I'd be welcome?" Link barely thought before nodding his head yes. He'd have to clear things with Zelda beforehand, but Link saw no reason why he couldn't tag along.

"You're brazen, boy." Impa slurred. 

"I guess I take after my father. And you are?" Impa glanced around the room aimlessly. No one knew of her true identity, save for direct Royal family lineage and Link. It wasn't like the soldiers who sparred in the training room during early hours hadn't seen her before, going head-to-head with Link when she had the time, they may have just assumed she was another Shiekah under Royal employ who had picked up a particularly violent hobby.

"Just another drunk handmaiden." She was on high alert, more like it. The rapidly approaching champion knighting ceremony of legend had her on edge; it seemed like Link couldn't take a step without seeing her out of the corner of his eye, following closely behind anyone who wasn't a usual townsperson like they had the King's life in their sights.

The clatter and chatter of the knights around him fell away quickly, replaced by a wooden thumping that snuffed out any noise. It was coming from the walls...or was it the table? The people around him sat still, stuck unmoving as if life was placed on hold. No breathing, no movement at all, like a play whose actors were frightened like deer from a hunter's footfalls.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There it was again, that incessant knocking. Her inn room door slid open with a swift thud, pulling her out of her recollection. It was as if all of her memories attempted to slam against her like a busted floodgate, and someone came to plug the leak with their finger. With all that she'd remembered so far, it felt odd to have been cut away from that memory as it snuffed itself out like a stifled sneeze. Regardless, it was gone as soon as it came, and she came away remembering so little. Zelda found out about her, about how she preferred to dress and didn't react negatively like she thought she would. In all of the mixed emotions Link woke up with, relief was among them, but oh, how she wanted to remember everything now, no matter how painful it all was. 

Paya was in the doorway, looking shocked, saying something surprisedly, but Link couldn't make sense of her words in her sluggish haze, as her brain was only just turning on. She sat up out of the warm futon and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, 

"He did it!" She said in an excited whisper. "Medoh is down! Prince Sidon did it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was short! It's basically the rest of what I had planned out for this flashback scene. Nonetheless, this whole flashback bit was really freaking fun to write and I wanna do more of it. ANYWAYS.
> 
> I love you all!


	31. That's all four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unearthed discoveries bring more questions than answers. The results are in! How many tamed divine beasts does it take to cause intense, anomalous seismic activity?!

She bolted out of bed, and brushed past the excited girl. She dove straight out the door into the cool morning air. All of Kakariko was outside, watching the sky above, and Link joined them. Indeed, Medoh was nowhere to be found.

Of course, Rito village is a safer place now, unburdened by the curse of Vah Medoh, but most of all, Sidon was okay. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and with clenched fists she hugged Paya who was standing next to her. The elders granddaughter smelled like rose petals.

"He's okay." Link breathlessly said. The Shiekah girl nervously chuckled, and spoke quietly as she unlocked her arms from her friend.

"Of course he is. You knew deep down he would be. He has you to return to, nothing will get in the way of that." Link's lips pulled into a smile, and she watched the blue sky in thought. She missed him so much.

"That's all four."

"All four. Y-you've made the realm that much more of a peaceful place again, Link." The Hylian's overworked brain flashed her recently recalled memory back to her. Back then, Hyrule was in possession of unmatched peace and harmony. In what she could remember, Hylian fighters used to get so restless for battle, that it was in Link's lifetime that the Royal family chose to erect the Colosseum for countless bloody fights.

"Not as much as it used to be." She murmured. Paya gave her a quizzical look.

"Used to be? You speak like something has come to you. A memory, perhaps?" Link nodded her head, feeling studied under Paya's gaze. "Come, tell of what you remember in the shrine, Grandmother would be delighted to hear."

As they began their ascent up the shrine's stairs, Mona emerged from the crowd and began tailing along with them wordlessly.

"You alright, Mona?" Paya asked. The scholar appeared deep in thought, and didn't speak until Paya slid closed the door behind them. 

"Yeah, it's just all hitting me now." Mona's eyes met Link's in wonder. "You and Prince Sidon will be in the history books, and I'm probably going to be the one to write them." Mona put her hand on her forehead and leaned against the wall, next to a stack of knee high books. "I'm no author, but, I have to say it's an honor. I made sure everyone knows not to enter our underground shrine, the warning we got from it means something big is probably gonna happen." She looked over at Paya. "What's up?"

"It seems like Link remembered something from her past recently." Link nodded.

"In my sleep." Mona chuckled, and tossed a pillow near the middle of the room, gesturing at the floor, and to the busy elder who was nursing her morning tea.

"Sounds like story time, doesn't it?"

"The day before the knighting ceremony, I can hardly remember it, but I remember the day after quite well." Impa said this with a palpable giddiness in her voice. "I was probably at that bar, the one every other knight was at around that time. I used to go there every night and I can't for the life of me remember..." 

"The Felled Pheasant." Link said politely.

"Yes, yes! It's no surprise to me that Princess Zelda accepted you without a second thought. Among being kind and charitable, she was always the empathetic type." Impa rubbed her chin. "Do you...remember anything after that day?" Link shook her head. 

"Mn, not yet." Impa sighed.

"It will come to you." She said this like a warning, a tone free of any excitement or optimism. "When, or if Zelda returns, it will come. Whatever you find, I know you can handle it. You're a warrior." Link smiled, and shrugged away her bittered tone.

"Just like you." The elder waved a wrinkled, bashful hand.

"Bah, elder is a wonderful title, one that I'm more than happy to have inherited." She paused, studying Link like an old friend. "But, hearing such things does make me feel old emotions, good ones. I'm so happy to have you here, dear." A tremor shook the shrine held up by wooden slats, absolutely shifting the realm with reckless abandon. Sharp screams were heard outside as paya grabbed onto her grandmother and braced for the worst of it. Books and papers fell across the floor, scattering and shifting on the ground, and Link watched with her fingers digging into the rug-covered ground below her as Mona struggled to keep it all from getting too disorganized. 

"Is everyone alright?" Mona said, panting and looking around the room, unnerved by the shrine as it continued to wobble around on its supports. 

"Gods, I haven't felt that since the calamity."

Mona snapped a sheaf of papers into a clipboard, and steeled herself. 

"Let's go see what we've got." The scholar stated. Paya released her grandmother from her vice grip, and stood to dust off of both her clothes, and Impas hat.

"I hope that was the worst of it." Paya nervously mumbled to herself. 

"Just go make sure everyone is alright, love. I'll be here." Mona slid the door open, which required a bit more force than normal. The structural integrity of the little shrine Impa called her home had been thoroughly tested, and had only succumbed to a slight shift of the woodwork, causing the door to stick at an angle.

"Yeah, someone's gotta fix thaa-" Mona was cut short, looking at something out in the village with a mix of horror and amazement. The leaves were shaken from the trees, one was simply uprooted, and fell on the fire pit nearest Hana's home. A cuccoo coop was collapsed, and several sections of fence lining the farmland had fallen over, but it appeared any livestock were much too frightened to make a run for it. Next to the woodwork shop, Hana was yelling something to her dad, making excited gestures and hopping up and down. As Link descended the stairway beside her two friends, she watched people hurriedly moving from home to home assessing the damage and making sure everyone was okay. 

"H-how are we, Cado?" Paya asked one of the few farmers that populated Kakariko.

"I think we'll be okay. A few fallen trees, a couple of broken down coops, no one is hurt, just shaken up." 

"Nothing some love and care can't fix. I’ll be around soon, I can help out, here." In eyeshot, the ancient Shiekah stone shrine lay unchanged in the small grassy area near the nearby forest. Not glowing any different colors, it stood there with its bright blue veins emitting the same light it was the night before.

“It doesn’t look any different.” Link mumbled quietly, just loud enough for Mona to hear. The scholar perked up from her clipboard.

“I don’t think you’re lookin’ in the right spot, my friend.”

As they passed the small woodworking cabin, Hana caught eye of Link, and before she could even say a hello, the girl was flailing her arms and running at the Hylian. 

“I almost died I almost died I almost died!” Link couldn’t help but laugh at her absurd excitement, and the way she was waddling over at unmatched speeds. Hana spoke with clenched fists. “Okay, so, I was trying to grab a file off the wall, and, and, and! When the shaking started happening, the biggest axe we have nearly fell on my head! It missed me by like, a hair!”

“Why do you sound excited about it?” Link asked amusedly. 

“Cause I’m hyped up on  _ so _ much adrenaline right now! I could take on Ganon!”

“You’d make a pretty dorky hero of Hyrule, you know. I don't think the historians would take you seriously.” Hana stuck out her tongue, and watched the others walking alongside Link. 

“So are we going to the glowy place?” She asked innocently as she tagged along with them, and Link could only imagine the negative repercussions of bringing a youngling in such a potentially dangerous, ancient area. 

“If it’s not too dangerous. Did you ask if you could?” 

“Don’t need to! I’m tough! I’ve got big girl muscles! I can beat my dad in arm wrestling! Okay that was a lie, but--” 

“It’ll be okay,” Mona said sternly. “It won’t be dangerous. If the shrine wanted to hurt us, It wouldn't have warned us to keep the room vacated by the time Medoh was tamed.” As they reached the beginning of the stairs, something was immediately apparent.

“I could have sworn these were not that long a few days ago.” Paya said, her voice echoing down the seemingly endless flight.

“They weren’t. There were exactly seven-hundred steps, this looks like upwards of nine-hundred.”

“How do you know that?” Paya chuckled as she asked the scholar, who darted her eyes around nervously before cracking a smile.

“I come down here a lot.” As they descended, Link could hear a low hum, and she could only compare to the buzzing of a beehive, but...slowed down, the kind of vibrations that make the chest shake, and it only intensified the further down they went.

"Everyone feel that?" Mona asked, getting hums of affirmation from the rest of the group. Hana spoke, her high pitched and curious voice testing the incoming acoustics.

“I thought that was just me.” There was a rush of warm air, gusts of wind along with the sounds of shifting stone, and Link could see the bottoms of the old Shiekah banners on the supporting pillars fluttering in the anomalous wind. In beholding the vast expanse, it became clear what had caused the quake in the first place. Along with the ceiling having grown considerably in height, the palace had produced buildings from its ground, all spaced out to allow stony walkways between them. The buildings varied in size and shape, reminiscent of the way Hateno’s blocky buildings weren’t all completely symmetrical; as if they were all created by different people who had their own image for what their homes should look like. 

“I knew it.” Mona breathlessly spoke. “It’s a village.” Some of the buildings had slanted rooftops, some had no roofs at all, but they all had a few things in common; the glowing, soft humming doors at their fronts, and the circuitry that ran through them like spreading vines, almost like the ones that ran through Ruta, but a bit more organic, less symmetrical, and spreading on the surface like genuine plant life. Mona boldly placed a hand on one of the vines, which reacted to her touch with a slight dark blue flicker. She glanced behind her at Paya. "Are you seeing this?" Paya swallowed hard, and pressed her hand against the same veiny circuitry. "This was built, people were  _ in  _ here at one point. Hah. Could you imagine? Now it's just...here, showing itself to us all because a few Hylians dug up a divine beast on accident a hundred years ago."

Link approached a door of one of the frontmost buildings and curiously hovered a hand over it. Along with being partly see-through, It was warm, and it tickled her fingertips as she pressed against it. 

"What's inside?" Link let out a scared yelp, forgetting Hana was right behind her. "I know, it's spooky, but look! It looks like a big bedroom!" There was a stone bed on the inside, along with several open shelf-shaped compartments in the walls. If this place was lived in, whoever left appeared to take everything along with them. It almost looked like a Gerudo room, the kind that included chiseled furniture like chairs and beds, except everything was covered in the veiny blue lights, that much was certain through the glossy blue energy of the door. The door in question wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pushed. 

"Need help?" Hana chirped, and shoved her shoulder up against the door. "Woah that feels weird." 

"What feels weird?" Mona asked.

"It's all...tingly. even through my robe." The scholar poked the door. 

“Some kind of...hard energy? What did I just say? How is that even possible? It definitely doesn't feel like glass.” 

"Whatever it is, it won't budge." Link mumbled through the side of her mouth. 

Suddenly, she felt the absolute absence of door that was just there a split second ago, and along with Mona and Hana, fell forward into the immaculate room, glowing with blue artificial veins. Paya made a nervous squeak.

"Oh jeez! I just! I p-pressed a button, I'm sorry!" The three dragged themselves off the ground, and Mona noticed the hand shaped panel next to the door as she brushed herself off.

"So you used the doorknob. Noted."

As spotless as it was, free of any wear or tear, this place felt as though it had stories to tell, it felt lived in despite having had no signs of life. 

"Did they all just...disappear? There's nothing in here, how did they not leave anything behind?" The scholar asked herself. 

“Nope! They left this!” Hana practically went headfirst into a drawer half slid out from the wall, and produced a simplistic rigid rod, teeming with blue circuitry, akin to the hilt of a sword. "It's got a button!" Before Link could stop her from pressing it, the rod shot a blue beam of light, that quickly hardened and materialized into the shape of a strangely shaped sword, one that had sharp hooks that acted like teeth along the blade. The force from the action shot Hana's small body back a few inches. 

"WOAH! I FOUND THEIR HOME DEFENSE." Link held out a hand, and gestured for Hana to hand over the weapon. As she held it up, Link noticed how  _ light  _ it was, feeling like holding chopsticks in comparison to the hefty Blade of the Eight.

"You're  _ kidding me!" _ Mona exclaimed, and the sword was passed between hands to get a better look.

“My ancestors made this,” Paya began, chuckling in disbelief. “I guess our tradition of pacifism only goes so far back.” The elders daughter locked eyes with Link, and held out the weapon with a smirk. “Here, if there’s anyone who deserves it, it’s y-you.” The Hylian held the light handle, its glowing blue blade felt so faintly warm to the touch, vibrating ever so slightly. She rubbed her thumb against the flat button on its side, causing the blade to retract back into its home with a quick and forceful pull. 

“I think it’s fair to say what  _ could  _ be tens of thousands of years of traditions, passing hands from elder to elder, ideals change."

They combed through more buildings in the village, met with empty rooms and occasional oddities, one of which was a bathhouse. A rectangular shaped hole sat in the ground, carved into it were tiers of steps to imply one would rest on them, inside of the bath. It began filling with steaming water from several holes in the walls, which acted as mouths for fierce looking deities, square faced and resolute, carved directly into the stone. The water was more pristine than any Link had ever seen running through Hyrule's rivers.

"This is an invitation." Mona spoke softly.

"To bathe?" The scholar shook her head at the Hylian's question. 

"To live here. It's inviting us to stay." The running water was all that could be heard in those few quiet moments.

"Why does that feel more creepy than it sounds?" Link felt a shiver at Hana's innocent question. Indeed, it felt all too strange to be offered a place to live from a people long forgotten by any history books; all too peculiar. Mona squatted down, and ran her fingers through the water.

"If there were ancient Sheikah to greet us in person, I'm sure we'd feel welcome." She turned her head to meet Link's gaze. "Maybe this is a thank you gift, hero girl."

Link felt wholly undeserving of such a gift.

"I don't want it." Link said plainly, her lips pulled into a polite smile. "I think this place belongs to Kakariko."

"Oh psh, you're too modest." Mona started, "What's wrong with being the queen of your own domain?"

Link blushed red, and the scholar made a sudden surprise and understanding chuckle. "Oho, I get it. You'll be the queen of your own domain one day, Prince Sidon will make sure of that." The Hylian's heart practically skyrocketed in her chest. To assume such a demanding and strong title over the Zora domain mattered little compared to the thought of being Prince Sidon’s princess. If she thought on it too long, she felt as though she would burst. 

"What're we gonna call it?" Hana asked as they walked the spotless halls of the underground city. It was still oddly warm with gusts of staticky air, as if the place was exhausted from moving around so much that day.

“New Kakariko?” Mona proposed. The little girl curtly shook her head no, not having any of it.

“Mmn, that’s too boring! What do you think, Paya?” The elder’s daughter held a finger to her chin.

“W-well, we have a lot of important elders in our history. Oman Au, Lakna Rokee...Impa?”

“Impa village! Impa village!” Paya smiled warmly.

“I like that idea, personally, but if Link is really planning on handing this place over, Impa herself would have the final say. That is, unless an ancient Shiekah comes out of the woodwork and tells us o-otherwise.” Link chuckled, thinking on the now elders younger self. The youthful Impa would most likely scoff at such a proposal, sternly declining any sort of reward for doing what she felt was her born duty, but the one that sat in the heart of Kakariko now? Perhaps she’d be more open to the idea, as time she’d spent as the elder of the village has changed her into more of a compassionate being. 

They came upon the middle of the village, it’s vast expanse echoed little to no sound, and the air became cooler and less intense than it was earlier. In the center of this palace-like city, there was a tall, wondrously decorative fountain with pristine running waters, its fountain stool in the middle shaped quite like the consoles that Link had seen in Ruta, Rudania, and Naboris, except out of the flowery fountain stood slim depictions of the three goddesses of Hyrule. Most would call them the old goddesses, as Hylia was considered the owner and watchful eye of the realm, the one that protected any mortal beings in the creation that Din, Farore, and Nayru had birthed, yet those three were still widely worshipped. Nayru was crouched, pouring the waters of the fountain down into the pristine pool below out of a stone pot. Din stood ceremoniously upright, facing forward, her hands held to her chest and her fingers made the shape of a triangle. Finally, Farore kneeled her body off of the flowery podium at which they stood, her hands clutching a thin walking stick, and vines and leaves carved from stone crept up her legs, and she watched the waters with a maternal stare.

“It’s absolutely beautiful.” Paya mused, the four surrounding the art piece, getting better looks.

“Oh, Paya, look at this.” Mona gestured for the girl, and pointed at the foot of Din. This statue was unlike any of the futuristic stone machinery the rest of the village knew, it was more akin to marble, milky stone that refused to show much of its age. Because of that material difference, though, there was an obvious dip right in front of the fountain, a spot that was in the shape of two knees that wouldn't otherwise show on the strange material the ancient Shiekah were known to use.

Paya looked at this divet questioningly, and got on a knee to get a better look.

It was bumpy and imperfect, there were obvious spots near the dents where hands were placed, where people once rested for deep contemplation. 

“A place for prayer.”

“Mmhm.” The scholar wrote something down in her clipboard. “I would almost say this tells us enough, as far as this places original purpose goes. We have a lightly used village, everyone.” Link spoke up timidly.

“We still have the console, remember?”

“Oh, jeez, yeah.” The scholar scratched her head, kicking herself for not remembering the very thing that told them that Zelda was still alive. “It would take us another day to look the rest of this place over, let's at least give the console a look before we pack it in?”

After some swift navigating through the still somewhat familiar roads, the four came upon it, the tell-tale flowery shape of the console glowing with artificial light. It looked just as it did before set in the familiar mechanical stone, yet, there was a strange looking indentation on the wall next to it, one shaped closely in relation to the large double doors of the archives in the Zora Domain.

The console sat still, and pulled their immediate attention with a bright black screen lined with rows of information.

_ Inquisitors = 0  _

_ Builder status = null _

_ Interlopers = 0 _

_ Error - Home device not found! _

_ Not at full power! _

_ No slate detected! _

_ Holder detected... _

_ Overriding… _

_ … _

_ Welcome home, holder. _

Links blood stopped cold in her veins. There it was again, that anxiety dripping feeling, the one that tunneled her vision and sent her head spinning like a windmill. 

_ 'Welcome home.' _

_ Am I supposed to feel welcome? _

It was as if the screen produced a hand, and pointed its finger right at her, at her very _soul._ It pointed at every single person she's ever been, every life she's lived through countless ages.

_ " _ Is everyone else reading what I am right now?" Mona asked, completely bewildered. "Sorry, it's just one thing to come to the conclusion ourselves, but…" The scholar paused, giving Link a nervous look. "You alright?" The Hylian swallowed hard, and gestured vaguely in a half shrug. 

"It's talking about me." Mona took a confident step forward, rubbing a hand on the console in a futile attempt to get some sort of response from it. 

"It is, in a way. It's weird, there are history books that refer to even older history books that called what you have a legend. Like, they referred to the constant clash of good and evil, Ganon versus the forces of the Golden Goddesses like it was some  _ poe  _ story to keep their kids behaving. But even tens of thousands of years ago, deep underground, the old Shiekah understood, and tried to fix it." The scholar took a deep breath, and gave her full attention to the Hylian. "It's cyclical, and they knew it. But they don't know you, Link."

Link remained silent, not fully understanding what Mona meant. Paya spoke quietly.

"They just k-knew what you have. A piece of the goddesses." Link frowned. 

"What if I...don't want that part of me?" 

"With support like this place!?" Hana chirped, knocking a bandaged knuckle against the cold wall. "Future yous won't even have to worry about fighting Ganon! I bet this whole village could stand up out of the ground and punch his stupid face in right now!" In her foggy haze of anxiety, Link cracked a smile, nudging the little blacksmith with the tips of her fingers. 

"What I mean is, they  _ got  _ it. I think they found their way, their solution to keep Ganon from causing so much pain. I don't know what happened to halt their progress, but, we're here now. It's ready to be used, to be studied. Those divine beats are ready to be piloted. Future yous may not ever have to deal with this again. You can just...be you, no sealing power, no prophecy. Just some cool looking giant animals attacking a dark, screaming cloud every other hundred years." Link inhaled a shaky breath.

Maybe a future life would have her end up being someone who wouldn’t have to fight so much, someone who could spend her doing things normal people do, without all the people clamoring for her help. Perhaps, a future version of her will pull up a chair outside of her home, untouched by any destructive force, to watch the monolithic Divine Beasts wrestle Ganon to the ground and snuff it out where it stands, like watching a simple meteor shower. Such a thought stilled her, yet, it still felt so strange to be recognized throughout the ages.

A feeling she may not get used to for quite some time. 

Paya studied Link’s changing expression, and gave a small, optimistic smile, and just as she was able to smile back, she felt her black shirt’s sleeve tugged by Hana.

“Would it make you feel any better if I said you weren't that special?” Link let out a quick, and oddly relieved laugh. “Sorry that sounded really mean.” 

“No! Not at all, it actually...feels nice to hear.” Paya pressed a hand to Link’s back.

“I suppose it is nice to know that in a cosmic way, none of us are extremely important. You’re important to  _ us _ b-because you’re Link. Our friend.” Link ducked her gaze from everyone, and held back a wall of incoming waterworks. She didn’t mind feeling special to these people, she even enjoyed it. She was special to Sidon, to Paya and Hana, to Vilia and Ashai, even to  _ Muzu  _ she was special in some way, and that was a sobering thought. 

Mona knocked on the front of the console, a last ditch attempt to get it to change, or shift in some way. 

“Alright, well, there’s not much I can get out of this panel. I think we may get some more answers if we had the slate. We all good to go?” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Mm, I can let anyone know they’re free to come down here.”

The four began walking the faux roads once more, a place that Link felt may never truly feel like any ‘home’, but perhaps she’d come to enjoy being in such a  _ safe  _ feeling place.

“I’m not all about politics, or anything, but this village looks like it could house a lot more people than are in Kakariko.” Mona said, still taking in the wondrous sights around her. 

“It belongs to grandmother, if Link truly doesn’t want it.” She glanced to Link, who again, shook her head no in regards to tending to a whole village. “So, she’ll have the final verdict.” Mona chuckled. 

“Oh, Pie, you know she’ll let anyone move in.” Paya gave a knowing smile, and nodded.

_ Pie? Did Mona just call her ‘Pie’?  _ Link had to hold in a squeal at how cute that nickname was. 

“I know. She hasn’t always been so charitable, but, I think this village may end up being quite a melting pot, like Hateno.”

“Gah, could you imagine?” Mona asked optimistically. “People walking these streets again after so long? Children spending their childhoods in such a safe place?”

“It certainly is a nice thought. I would personally miss the sun, though.”

“Well, yeah, but... I mean, did you  _ see  _ that bathhouse, Paya?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY! thank you for reading! I really liked seeing what I could do with the shrines and underground buildings to serve a story perspective, rather than a video gamey one. If you like what I'm doing, feel free to comment. literally anything makes me feel validated! :D I love you guys, thanks for givin me so many smiles!


	32. What am I so anxious about?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Sidon is coming back to Kakariko, but that also means seeing him for the first time since she was attacked. Is that what's making her so nervous?

"You say it's how large?" Paya put a finger to her chin after taking a moment to light a rosy bundle of incense. 

"About how large you described Hyrule Castle Town." The elders beady eyes widened, and she looked to Link and Mona for confirmation.

"It really is a full fledged village, grandmother. It was a gift for taming all of the divine beasts. You remember that strange little screen I told you of? The one that said Zelda was alive? It was the one to welcome Link, so our best guess that it's hers." Impa inhaled a raggedy breath, and chuckled, her smile was seen glimmering in the smoky incense that hovered around the room, giving everything a dim, dreamlike quality.

It seemed the elder was in disbelief.

"So it belongs to our dearest hero, I gather?" She asked with a hint of energetic youth. 

"Well, it would, but…" Link shifted in her boots, and could only shrug.

"But I don't want it." Impa rocked her head back to laugh, teetering on the puffy pillow she sat on. 

"It's a lot of responsibility, that much I can attest to. I understand your refusal." She met eyes with Link, and patted her own lap. "When I was appointed elder, I was so overcome with tasks and met so many new people. I was Paya's guardian, she was just a little eight year old girl when I was named Kakariko's elder. She sparked a new person in me. Before I knew it, I was reaching out to everyone to help me put together events and little gatherings.” She waved a hand, and chuckled at her blushing granddaughter. “Ah, I reflect too much. So, what are your plans, Link?” 

“To let you have it. The village.” Impa smiled and nodded slowly, an expression that said she knew that answer was coming.

“I can’t say im suprised. Remember, I said Kakariko belongs to its people, so I hardly consider myself this village’s owner, but everyone likes to treat me like I am.” The elder cleared her throat, and spoke sitting up as straight as she could. “I humbly accept, but there are a few conditions I will need met first.” Paya nodded understandingly.

“Anything, grandmother.” The old woman leaned forward. 

“I need you to help me section off some of this new village, a street or so for Hyrule castle’s future residents, including Zelda’s quarters.” Link found herself smiling at that. It seemed that to the ends of the earth, Impa would protect the Royal family, she would make sure that the world Zelda was waking up to was a safe one, one that could stand on its own feet and protect those that needed protecting. 

“Absolutely.” Paya said proudly, her dark brown eyes shimmering.

“I’ll have the village mapped out in the next few days, Lady Impa.” Mona said confidently. “Maybe over dinner, we could pick out a section to house the construction workers and the like.” 

“That sounds lovely, Mona. For the time being, though, I think it’s okay to let Dorian and Mellie know it’s alright if everyone wants to have a look.” Link craned her neck to see through the stubbornly stuck half-open sliding door of the temple, and saw that a handful of Kakariko residents were either curiously peering down the endless stairwell of the new ancient Shiekah village, or asking Hana what she saw. The poor, introverted girl looked absolutely overrun with questions. “They’re probably rightfully curious, now."

With another weak throat clearing, Impa gestured them out the door politely. "I appreciate you two, Paya, Mona, but I'd like a moment alone with our favorite champion, if that's okay with you." Link felt one of her ears curiously twitch, and she watched Paya pull the sliding door with great effort after giving her grandmother a polite bow.

"Ill be back soon with that soup you like, grandmother." 

"Ah! You spoil me, love." With a pleasant smile from the two, the door was slid closed, and a silence fell over the room. Link didn't know why her muscles tensed up, or why she assumed the worst from the elder, but was reassured that everything was okay as the old woman spoke with her wrinkled lips curled into a smile.

"I do have to ask one thing of you before I consider this village my own." Link raised a brow quizzically. "I want you to name it." Link scratched the back of her head nervously.

"Well, we want to call it...Impa village." Impa made a confused and high pitched laugh, mixed with a mousy-like squeal, and the elder clasped her hands together tightly.

"You do, do you!?" Link nodded, blushing a crimson red, and half-hiding behind her shoulder length blonde hair.

"It's all Hana and Paya's idea, but I think it fits." Impas wrinkles all pulled up with her gleaming grin. 

"Ooh, Hana. She's such a sweet little girl." After a myriad of giggles, the elder took a deep breath. Though she was thoroughly humble, Impa was more than overjoyed at the prospect of being cemented as something so important. "I accept, yes, Impa village it is." The elder met eyes with Link's fondly. "You know, names have power in our culture, Link. Names honor the dead as well as the living, they give stories to people who've already led wonderful legacies. This is a high honor, one of many you continue to humble me with." 

Link's eyes shyly avoided the elders gracious gaze.

"It's not the main reason I wished to keep you behind, to speak with you. You see, as you continue to remember me, remember what happened those years ago, I, too, begin to remember what life was like then." Impa stifled a cough, and made a 'come here' gesture to one of the pillows in the middle of the room, and Link obliged by settling down in her favorite of the various designs, a square pillow adorned with the traditional Shiekah eye. 

Sitting and listening to Impa speak was an event to Link, as being regaled by any seasoned warrior would be. She settled in comfortably to listen. 

"Life was quiet before we dug up the Divine Beasts. I had a simple life beside my mother, she and I spent our few days a week together fishing, or discussing royal affairs that only esteemed royal family members would know about, ah, like gossipping midwives we were. I was appointed to be the sole guardian of Rhoam, just as my mother was to the Queen of Hyrule, and things were steadily improving in my life from my rather dodgy upbringing, and I felt fulfillment to no end.” Impas beady eyes glistened in the red lantern lights, and she shrugged her words out with grievous indifference. “After Queen Hyrule’s passing, things began their decline. It was subtle at first. I felt like perhaps it was my own instincts playing tricks on me. The royal astronomer warned we were under threat of Ganon’s resurgence, and not one chancellor could find any evidence to refute it, so the news spread like wildfire. The superstitious residents of Hyrule castle were leaving rabbits feet outside their doors, and there was this...growing nervousness that accidentally unearthing the Divine beasts quelled for quite some time. But it never did with me. It just made me more nervous. Of course, not soon after, Ganon struck the land like a plague.” Her voice dipped to a solemn whisper, a hollow tone that ripped at Link’s heart.

“On that day, when I was denied my request to follow Zelda into the burning city I swore to protect, I simply walked away.” Impa chuckled flatly in disbelief. “My spirit broke that day. I lost my mother, my king, myself. I continued to drink, and in some wild attempt to gain control, I grew desperate enough to wed a ruthless, uncaring man. I had a child that grew to _dispise me._ I never blamed her, nor do I now, because I was a demon.” Impa spoke with such a distaste for her past self, her usually sweet and frail voice was laced with venom. "She made my mistakes. She foolishly married a man she didn't love, had a child she never wanted, and not eight months later she boarded a boat off of Hatenos coast and she never came back." Impa sniffled, and Link scooted forward on her knees to provide the elder some comfort, offering a hand for the woman to grab onto, a hug, a touch, _anything_ , but Impa sat stoically like a doll, and continued to speak. "You don’t remember anything, and, a part of me envies that you cannot. A part of me envied that you were put inside that resurrection chamber, that you never had to endure such a downfall.” The elder dodged Link’s eye contact, ashamed.

“I visited you often, as strange as it sounds. I made sure no one else could find you, I kept that spot safe. Every summer, I'd tend to the entrance with plenty of plant life just to assure you were undisturbed. But, I spoke to you for guidance, even at my drunkest. I talked to you while you healed in that pool. I always pretended, that maybe you heard me, too. But over time, as I watched your wounds fade, and as I grew older, you stayed the same. I no longer visited you at one point, as my jealousy began to overcome me. I’ve carried this envy, this regret, and its weight has blistered me. Such envy will follow me well past the grave." Impa moved her head from its slouched, defeated position, and tears streamed down her wrinkled face. She finally met her eyes to Link’s, and the Hylian’s heart broke as Impa only grew more desperate in her words. "I've waited a long time for this, but...I must ask for your forgiveness, Link. Please, please forgive me. You are practically my own family, and I grew to _loathe_ you."

Link pulled herself as closely as she could to the elders body, and hugged her with as much force as she felt the woman's frame could handle. 

"I forgive you, Impa. I forgive you." Link stuttered mournfully. She truly didn't feel like Impa was at all at fault. Impa, in a way, was betrayed by someone who was always by her side, abandoned by absolutely everyone she held dear simultaneously. Perhaps to Impa's past self, Link represented the last bit of her good life, the last pleasant tie that was never truly severed, but was left in suspension to taunt her like a ghost. The elder shuddered, and sighed like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

"You're the closest thing I have to family, Lady Impa." 

"Oh, you foolish little rat, what did I tell you about those formalities? Family doesn't use such titles!" She whined, and gave the Hylian a playful, yet tearful slap on the arm. "Ah, I so dearly missed you, my friend." Link sighed, staring sadly at the back of the temple as she hugged the elder. 

"I missed you, too, Impa." After a hug that lasted until Impas breath grew stable and calm, Link pulled away, and gave a caring smile to her old friend.

"I hope that this word is gentle to you, dear. Gentler than it has been." She ran her fingers over Link's bruised skin, and the Hylian winced at the memory.

"I'll be okay." She mumbled with just enough optimism to get a slow nod from Impa.

"Your prince will see to it that you are. The way he looks at you, dear. It's quite obvious that you have his heart." Link felt the tips of her ears heat up, and with a fluttering heart, she nodded.

"He has mine, too." 

The night was settling in, and the red lanterns were sparsely lighting the empty village, as the majority of its residents were looking around the new town sprouted beneath the ground. Link was standing outside on Impa's shrine's porch, wondering how she wasn't feeling mentally exhausted, how the days events haven't completely drained her. She was too manic, too excited to see Sidon again. She wanted to congratulate him, call him a hero, tell him he's the most amazing and caring creature in the realm to put himself in harm's way like that, and she chuckled to herself at how he'd probably react to such a compliment; most likely by waving a dismissive hand and blushing his way through the honeyed words.

“No, daaad, push it a bit this way.” 

“Hana, the whole thing has to come off, it’s completely off its hinges.” Renno grunted, grabbing a metal hook from a box at his feet. Paya had appointed the ox of a man to help with Impa’s door, something that to the carpenter was a walk in the park.

“You’re off your hinges! Watch, watch, just move over for one second. You can just _pop_ it right back in!” Renno sighed heavily, and took a quick step to the side. Hana looked over at Link, and pointed at her as if to say, ‘watch this, I’m about to blow your mind’. Like a chiropractor, she held it in place, and knocked it with a shoulder. Much to her surprise, however, the door nearly fell on her head, if it weren't for Renno grabbing it at the last second. 

“ _Woah!”_ Renno had to nearly bend over like a piece of half folded parchment to eye daggers into the little girl.

“Yeah, woah is right, Hana. You’re gonna get a bump on your head if you stay that careless.” 

“Wouldn’t be the first one I’ve ever gotten.”

“I’m serious! You’re gonna get a headache, and I’m never gonna hear the end of it!” 

"Are you alright out there?" Impa weakly asked; the clattering of bowls from Paya, Mona, and the elder herself were heard from inside the temple.

"Yes ma'am, Lady Impa! Just got Hana here to unhook the door for us!" He said enthusiastically, but gave her that 'you're a brat' look all the while.

“What?” She giggled slyly, as if this were just any other day for her.

"Excited for Prince Sidon to come back, Link?!" Hana asked enthusiastically as her father continued working on the door by himself. The Hylian nodded with a sad look in her eye, as the more she thought about him, the more eager she was to have him come home to her. 

"When he comes home, when are you two gonna go kill Ga-" 

"Hana!" Renno snapped. 

"Whaaaat? Don't yell, I'm right here."

"The last thing they need to think about right now is...that." Hana's brow furrowed, and she pouted in defiance of her father as he continued to work. 

"No, it's okay. He and I may just take a break for a few days, it's really up to him." The man shrugged, and pushed the door back into its supports.

"It's just...such a daunting task. That thing is in history books!" Link shrugged. 

"Well, so am I." Renno tensed up, before letting out a hearty laugh. 

"Aha! Well, if you aren't scared, I guess I won't worry for ya." In her travels, Link tried not to spend much time staring at the black cloud dancing over Hyrule castle's remains when she was in Hyrule Field, tried not to watch as it taunted the realm like a sly wolf with the castle between its jaws. But, as long as the prince was by her side, she feared no man, no beast, no prophecy. She felt she could go there now, slay that beast and be done with it, for the sake of everyone, and for a better life with her beloved. With a smile, she spoke confidently.

"Nothing to be scared of."

Her heart had already begun to race as she walked into the inn's bedroom and closed the door behind her. She was pacing, bare footed around the futon, so nervous just to _see_ him again.

_I've seen him a jillion times, what am I so anxious about?_

Impa was so kind as to offer Link a place to sleep in her shrine, saying how much space they have in their upstairs quarters, yet the Hylian found herself declining. She wanted privacy, a place for her and Sidon to be alone together, but by Hylia, why was she so _nervous_ about it? After fifteen minutes or so of practically pacing a groove in the smooth wooden floorboards, she huffed a flustered sigh. Link pulled her long sleeved black shirt over her head, and slid her leggings down past her pale ankles. She tucked herself within the thick sheets of the futon's blankets, the cool fabric sliding against her skin, yet could find no comfort in that manic state. 

It was deathly quiet, even for nighttime Kakariko standards, which usually had at least one person shuffling around outside, one stray fox foraging apples from the apple trees scattered around the homes. Her ears searched for his arrival, listening for any sign of him, and she came to a sudden realization.

_Why do I expect him to be back tonight, anyway?_

She wondered how close he was to her, or if he'd even left Rito village yet. For all she knew, they could have kept him there to throw him a party, or carve a statue in his image or something. No, the Rito are too stubborn, too stuck in their own traditions to admit someone outside of their own race saved them, right? Sidon would give anyone the time of day, though. If one Rito wanted to celebrate in his honor, he’d stay behind to partake.

Just as the night previous, she stared down the crack of light between the door and the wall, watched as it spilled reddish light into the room of snuffed lanterns. She recalled being bedridden in Zora domain, counting the shimmering flecks of silver in the ceiling. This was a similar kind of boredom, the kind that slowed her thoughts, and made time move to a near standstill. 

Her eyes wandered from the ridge lined doorway, to the unlit paper lanterns that hung daintily on the walls, all the way to directly beneath her, below the cream white blankets that helped create a sweet pocket of warmth from the cool night that filtered through the sliding panel frames that acted as windows for the room. 

While, she knew it wasn't completely necessary to wear a bra to bed, doing so felt so calming, just as it did the first time she tried it on. Plus, the night previous, the intense sensitivity of her nipples rubbing against the sheets had actually kept her from falling asleep. Pulling back the padded fabric of her bra, her breast buds caused her tightly taut skin to shine in the moonlight. 

_Woah, did they get bigger?_

Even the slightest poke was a strange mix of feelings; such a sensitive area, causing an embarrassingly pleasant feeling upon touching the skin, yet nudging the bud below hurt with a dull pain, like being struck with a hammer. 

_Jeez, I hope that’s normal._

Links right ear flickered as she heard rustling outside, but couldn’t discern if they were from animal paws, or from footsteps. She quickly pulled her sheets up to her eyes. 

Hana had a tendency to stay outside both early and late, but it was a time directly between the two, so it couldn’t have been her. The rustling grew closer, or rather, was it moving away? 

Was it Sidon?

Was it some of the more curious residents of Kakariko, just getting home from studying Impa Village? Or perhaps it was Mona. The door to the inn slid open, and Link’s heart thumped thunderously like a racing horse. 

_It’s him it’s him it’s him!_ She gripped the blankets tightly, and practically vibrated in the futon, shaking with anticipation. She heard a muffled voice from the other side of the door, and she shot up in recognition. 

“Excuse me, can...hello?” He spoke quietly, but his voice had no trouble carrying through the thin walls. “How are you...sleeping standing up like that?” She heard the prince snap a few times at the front desk clerk, followed by a few moments of complete silence. He cleared his throat loudly, and Link had to stifle a laugh, as she knew Sidon would be standing there politely trying to wake him up for hours if she left him like that. 

“I’m in here.” She whispered, and wordlessly, just as she had daydreamed it the day before, his towering form snuffed out the lantern light in front of the sliding door, and he entered along with the smell of Hebra radiating off his person. It smelled like smoke, like leather and tobacco. 

In those few seconds before he walked forward, the light from behind him cast red beams over his body. Thank Hylia, he looked unharmed, but most of all, he'd never looked more beautiful to her than in that moment.

“My love,” He spoke softly, and dropped gently to one knee in front of her. It was hard to see his facial expression in that darkness, but she could make out the gleam of that beautiful smile, and _oh_ , how it made her heart race. He spoke politely, all while Link was paralyzed in sheer awe. “How are you?”

“Sidon!” She choked, and dove from the warmth of the sheets and into his arms, wrapping herself around his neck, his cold hands pressing carefully against her back. 

“Oh, my dearest. I-” Before he could say another word, she pressed her lips to his, and his arms relaxed as he exhaled a relieved grunt through his nostrils. 

She absolutely melted, no matter how cold his hands were, how they shocked her skin like frozen needles, her chest vibrated with all the warmth of a hearth _,_ and her cheeks heated up wildly at the feeling of their bare skin coming into contact as they kissed. 

She pulled from him to speak, obviously before he was through with their embrace, as he made a little disappointed squeak.

“You did it!” She said quietly. His gleaming eyes studied her face in awe, and she saw the shine of his smile again. She could barely think, for by Din's fire, his smell; that familiar citrus-lined scent that she’d come to grow addicted to was back. “Y-you tamed Medoh! That’s all of them, Sidon!”

His eyes continued to study her, his expression moving from excited, to closely moved to tears. The way he looked at her, it nearly broke her heart. She felt his forceful pull into a monsterous hug, a desperate embrace with his claw-like nails digging into her skin. 

This man had spent the better part of two days bearing the cold, dealing with a race of people who didn’t want him there, who’s thanks were probably brief, if even existent for saving them. _Oh_ , he deserved so much better than that. A parade, a banquet, some ceremonial sword would be a better show of gratitude than going away empty handed. Her thoughts were cut short, and she shuddered at his tenderly spoken words. 

“Your voice is beautiful, Link. It’s so fantastic to hear it again. I love you, so very much.” 

“Oh, Sidon. I love you, too!” He pulled back, and supported her weight on his lap as she leaned back against his arm. Sidon combed his free hand through her golden hair, and simply watched her; watched her flushed face smile back at him. His eyes studied the rest of her, drifted slowly down her neck and collarbone accentuated by bluish moonlight. Her black bra and panties were in stark contrast to her pale skin, and even in such dim light, it was incredibly obvious that the front of her underwear was bulging with excitement just from his electrifying touch. 

“The rest of you is quite beautiful as well.” He cooed, his quickly warming hands tracing down her sides, and making a thoughtful expedition down to her left hip, taking a handle of it with his fingers pressed against her butt. She shuddered, and torrential shocks flooded from her chest to her legs. He spoke not in a whisper, but such a deep, velvety tone that it shook her chest with it's vibrations. “I take it you missed me, hmm?” His thumb moved across the stretchy fabric, and teasingly rubbed the bulge pulled tightly by her panties. He was making such ambitious movements, he was moving so quickly and brazenly. He chuckled slyly to himself as Link’s expression grew flustered, and she shook her head a bit to hide behind her hair as his thumb pushed down against her even more intensely. “I missed you, too, my love.”

She didn’t stop him at all as his fingers began to drift back up and over the top lining of her underwear, his hand burrowed beneath this lining, and after a quick, loving moment to feel her soft skin, he held a demanding grip of her ass. 

Her already throbbing boner thrashed against its constraints as his groping grew more adventurous, and she snaked her hand down the front of his hard chest, past his sash and metal belt, his smooth skinned pouch was bulging with equal excitement. It twitched eagerly, and Link huffed, her mouth began to salivate, and her legs grew weak at the thoughts that swam dizzily through her mind. The prince spoke with a lick of devilish knowing.

“Is there something that you want, dearest?” 

_Oh, he’s such a jerk._ She thought, holding back a bratty pout and darting her eyes from his gaze as she nodded shyly.

"Y...yes."

He gently let her go, and promptly made the futon a bit more comfortable for himself. She sat on her knees, watching him in awe as he folded a pillow to support his neck as he laid down.

"Who am I to disappoint my love?"

Link's heart melted as he motioned for her, beckoned her with a finger all while untucking his twin members. The small Hylian crawled forward, feeling his hand run down her shoulder, and she took him by surprise as she wrapped her fingers around his throbbing erection, and nestled herself on his legs. He must've been expecting her to crawl atop him, but, she'd been waiting to do this from the moment she laid eyes on those blue tipped, stark white cocks. They just looked so indescribably sexy to her, and seeing the small drops of precum dribbling and forming on each head as she stroked the larger of the two only made her mouth water further. Just knowing he was _that_ turned on, _that_ excited just by touching her skin made her feel so beautiful. To be looked upon with such sexual hunger from someone so handsome as Prince Sidon, she must have been a goddess to him. Glancing up at him for only a moment, she fluttered her eyes closed, and parted her lips to let his love inside. His salty, clear precum was the first thing to greet her palate, but it was lost in the mess of saliva she was producing. Goddess, she was so full of _him._ His warm, lovely girth tested her jaw, but _oh,_ it felt like such a perfect fit. She held his other cock with her right hand, and found a slow, hard suctioned rhythm. Her free flowing hair bounced along with her movements, falling up and down in a trance at how unbelievably turned on it made her to be seen by her beloved in such a way, cheeks blushed red like a rose, her hair all messy and draping every which way with her half-lidded expression in pure bliss.

Did he know how heavenly this was for her? 

She wrapped her fingers around the smaller cock, and with a tight grip, stroked along with the motions of her head.

 _Am I doing a good job?_ She made a small, surprised squeak as he shifted up, and supported himself by leaning back on an arm.

Link nearly felt tempted to look up, to ask if she was doing something wrong, to see if there was a reason he sat up. Was she sucking too hard? Was she accidentally catching him with her teeth? She flinched as he rested his free hand on her head, and pushed ever so slightly against her to guide her down, to push her lips down further toward the base of his cock. His gentle hand ran its fingers through her locks, and slowly stroked the back of her head. Ah, she felt as though her heart couldn't beat any faster, that euphoric feeling couldn't raise her any higher. She was being praised for doing a good job, and it made her heart flutter. She was taking more, ignoring her jaws protest.

It was so _intensely_ fulfilling to please him like that, to taste the salty drops of precum as they dribbled from the tip of his cock, hearing the satisfying slurping sounds from her increasingly quick movements.

His loving touch moved past her hair, and after he drew a careful line with a finger from the nape of her neck to her ass, he used his ring and pinkie finger to move her panties to one side, her tightly covered, pale womanhood flopped out as he did so.

Her face was so red and feverish in embarrassment, yet, almost as if it were in her nature, she popped her hips out to allow him easier access. What was this intense, perverted feeling? Why did spreading her legs for him feel so right?

As she sucked, he gently pressed two fingers to her taint, a sensation that caused her leaking, throbbing erection to drip onto the sheets, all the while she pleased him diligently, reveling in how submissive she was being, giving her prince her full undivided attention as his fingers explored such private places of her body.

Boldly, his fingers traced upwards, his soft and barely held in grunting grew louder as the tips of his fingers pressed carefully against her hole, and rubbed in small circles. The Hylian had to use everything in her just to keep from whining and moaning for him, to keep from waking everyone in the inn up.

"Mnn, you're so _warm, my love_." His grunting was stifled, he was breathing in slow gasps through his teeth, and his hips gyrated ever so slightly. Goddess, how good it would have felt for him to take her right then and there, the thought drove her mad, it made the bobbing of her head intensify as if by instinct, a hunger was striking every primal urge, this insatiable lust for his cum, for him to orgasm. There were no words spoken as the prince's thighs shuddered and his cum erupted from both cocks, only his short and intensely pleasured gasps just before, and Links legs trembled at how forceful his cum was as it hit the back of her throat. She took his love in gulps, pushing out her butt and playfully wiggling it for him as she swallowed his cum. He tasted even better than she had hoped, a tingling sensation hitting every taste bud on her tongue, with a savory, salty aftertaste. He was panting heavily, with small, tiny chuckles peppered in between as the Hylian looked up at him with those blue doe eyes. 

"Aha, you...You're so fantastic, Link." She smiled shyly, giving little butterfly kisses to his shaft, almost not wanting to let go. She'd barely realised his other cock had orgasmed all over her chest, covering that black bra in thick lines. She would be mildly displeased, if it weren't for that heavenly afterglow, looking up at her handsome prince from his crotch. She could spend _hours_ down there and be happy, but it had been _too_ long since she'd felt his arms around her. He graciously accepted her careful movements to lay on his chest, and chuckled slightly as her cum-covered body pressed up against hers.

"So, you're going to make the both of us sticky, hm?" She smiled smugly at him, and wiggled around to rub it in, which got her a quick, stinging slap on the ass. She let out a high pitched yelp as her face lit up like a campfire.

 _Oh jeez. That felt...nice_ . _Why did I like that?_ She thought this as her still raging erection twitched against him, slick and warm with his cum, rubbing against his skin. "It's a good thing this place has the fairy spring so we can wash, otherwise you'd be getting much more than that." Link had to bite her cheek, and steele herself from trying to goad him into spanking her again. He did, however, slither his hand back underneath her panties, but not before discreetly wetting a finger with his spit. 

"Are you content with rubbing up against me like that?" If there was any slow in the pace of her heart, it kicked right back up as he pressed his finger against her again, but this time, he nearly pushed his middle finger inside. Sidon spoke with that velvety, low volume. "How about you keep doing what you're doing, my love? Let me help you." With an ever increasing blush, she obediently gyrated her slippery, cum covered cock against him, and as she pushed her hips back, Sidon's finger found its way inside of her, and she gasped and held in excessively lewd noises. 

"There you go, Link. Does that feel nice?" His soft spoken voice vibrated against her face half-pressed against his chest, and she found it hard to give any response with how overwhelming he felt inside her ass, coupled with her sensitive Hylian womanhood growing harder and harder to keep from exploding all over him.

"Y...yes, Prince Sidon." She didn't know why she blurted his full title, but goddess, it felt so good to address him so formally when he had her in such a lewd position. Down to his second knuckle, the prince found a rhythm inside her, aided by her cute little hip gyrations as he pushed and pulled, bringing her quickly to the edge. Her moans became harder and harder to stifle, and she buried her face in his chest, trying her absolute hardest to not squeal in ecstasy. 

Oh, Sidon was loving this. 

His finger found the perfect spot to rub up against, the perfect spot to pound into, his other hand gently caressing the nape of her neck, and Link completely lost her rhythm as her cock exploded a warm, sticky load between them, her moans exiting with little reprieve. She panted so intensely, her eyes wandering right to the gaze of the handsome prince who was now holding her waist with one hand, and still lovingly rubbing the nape of her neck with the other.

"Was that okay?" He asked, almost jokingly, as her feverish panting told him everything he needed to know.

"M-mhm. More than okay." He chuckled as he hovered his left hand near her head, and moved a few stray golden strands of hair out of her face. She must have looked like a mess with her sweaty forehead causing more adventurous locks to stick to her, but it seemed he didn't mind in the slightest, looking on her with grandeur, that expression that says 'You look so gorgeous.'

Besides that fizzling, electrifying energy that their love making instilled in her, she felt such an intense comfort being in his arms again. Goddess, she could melt right then and there, his breathing was calming her more than anything else could do.

"So...how was Hebra?" She asked quietly, glancing up at his iffy expression.

"Oh, goodness, it was...erm...well, it's hard to explain with so few words." Her ears drooped sadly. "I'd love to talk more on it, but, I haven't slept well these past few nights." A bell rang in Link's head, and she gave him an empathetic squeeze. 

"Me either, prince. Are you sure you wanna fall asleep in here? On this floor?" Sidon glanced to his left and right, and after a moment of thought, pulled one of the thick cream colored sheets over her body. The twin sized futon was much too small for the both of them, yet he still gave a decisive nod. 

"Are you going to be in here with me?"

"Of course I will." She answered as if that were the easiest question she'd ever been asked.

"Then there's no where else I'd rather be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this big ol smut scene! I love writing two characters who love each other sharing that love in all sorts of ways c:
> 
> I love you all!


	33. Are we home?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the ancient Shiekah techology regains power, its functions continue to surprise our heroes. What seems like strange and powerful magic, could just be advanced mechanisms waiting to reactivate after millennia of time.

He had woken up before her, her mouth half open with a small line of drool falling out of the corner of her mouth, but that didn’t bother him in the slightest. Of course, he’d slept strangely, with his head fin uncomfortably pressed against a pillow most certainly not designed with his race in mind, yet, again, he couldn’t care less. He’d slept wonderfully for the first time in what felt like forever. Not even on the way back to her from Rito village could he find a way into sleeps grasp, no, he was much too worried, too anxious for Link's wellbeing, and making his way from Ruta to her room in the inn was a building crescendo to his aching heart, that hearing her beautiful voice again served as a finale for. It meant so much to hear that voice again. 

Her jaw had that painful reminder of what happened that day, an experience he just wanted to erase for her. 

_ Goddess, she deserves so much better.  _ His thumb traced around the bruise, careful as to not wake her, but even the most tender touch was painful. His heart reeled as she flinched in her sleep, and her eyes shot open in confused worry. Was she having a nightmare? 

“Oh, my love, I’m so sorry!” Her startled confusion melted into a surprised smile, and he returned the smile as he wiped the drool from her blushing cheek. 

“It’s okay, prince.” She cooed happily, inching herself up to his neck under the blankets like a caterpillar. Her morning breath smelled a bit like sex, as did the rest of her, but he thought it was quite cute. “Good morning.” she mumbled happily, and lined sweet little lip-pinches on his jawline.

_ She is the exact definition of precious. _

He caught her lips with his own with all the swiftness of grasping a fish out of water.

“Good morning to you, too, sweet girl.” Her left hand crawled out of the warmth of the sheets, and she pulled her lips to his head again. 

“You smell.” She said with a huge grin, and he chuckled along with her small giggles.

He worked the gingery soap through her hair, and listened to the fluttering songbirds that made nests nearest the fairy spring. Even though it was nearing the autumn season and the trees and leaves had begun to turn, the life around the fairy spring had still flourished as if such change in climate had no effect on it. The flowers still appeared to glow with brimming pollen, and the fresh cherry blossom petals were floating lazily on the top of the water. 

“Just don’t get it in my eyes, okay?” He smiled, and playfully scoffed in mock offense.

“Have you no faith in me? Me, the one who felled Vah Medoh from the skies?” She brattily kicked her feet underwater, and clenched her eyes shut tight. 

"I do, I'm just a baby!" 

"And not a mild tempered one, at that." After another rambunctious thrashing beneath the water, she spoke in an unsure tone.

"So, um…"

"You wish to know of Rito village?" She shook her head yes, barely opening one eye to look at the prince worriedly.

"I'm just afraid you got hurt, or yelled at, or-"

"Shhh shh shh." He assured her with a kiss on her shoulder. "It wasn't all bad. I got to speak with Kayden a fair bit." The Hylian perked up.

"Oh yeah?" Sidon nodded and hummed in affirmation.

"Mm, he's wonderful company. I'm not sure how he ever came to the conclusion that becoming a scholar and agreeing to move so far from home would suit him, he misses his family and the domain so dearly." The prince rinsed the remainder of the soap from her locks. "You're safe, minnow. You can open your eyes now." Link popped open those bright blue eyes, and smiled lovingly as she rested her body back against him. "We actually talked at length, right in the Rito meadery." Link quirked a blonde eyebrow.

"They have a meadery? Where?" 

"It's...hard to see, it's off of this snaking stairway on the side of the plateau, supposedly a safe place in case Medoh  _ suddenly  _ went ballistic. In all honesty, I was just so nervous about...well...confronting the grey Rito, so I needed advice." 

Link shuddered in his arms, and Sidon pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her head, before pushing himself up.

"Come, let's get you dried off, love."

"You got drunk?!" She exclaimed with a small tap to the table, bits of rice flying out of her mouth, and she had to still herself from not choking on her piece of nigiri. Sidon swallowed his fifth piece of sashimi, nearly primed for another plate on his dreadfully empty stomach.

"Would it at all make you upset if I said yes?"

"No, I just wish I was there with you!" Sidon's snake-like eyes widened. 

"You'd want to  _ drink?  _ I never took you for the type." To be fair, he didn't take himself as the type to suddenly drink himself into a blackout either, but his anxieties had led his judgement to be poorer than usual that night. 

"I'm not, but doing it with you sounds fun."

Goodness, what would Link be like drunk? Would she be loud and bombastic? Giggly and fair-tempered? 

"Have you ever even had alcohol?" She shook her head slowly, and leaned forward, deep in thought.

"If I have, I don't remember." She pulled a lock of pesky, damp hair behind her ear, and reached out for his hand, resting her arm on the table. He took this gesture gladly, cupping and cradling her feminene hand with care. "So, when you did confront him, how did it go?" Sidon tapped his foot nervously against the wooden flooring of the quaint, nearly empty sushi bar. Come to think of it, Sidon hadn't seen much of anyone that morning, save for Hana's father, and Mona walking down into the great Shiekah stairwell that had only just recently emerged. 

"Do you really wish to know?" 

"Yes." Sidon frowned worriedly.

"How much detail am I allowed to skip over?"

"None of it." 

"None of it? You want the whole thing?" Link rolled her eyes, and giggled at his stalling.

"Jeez, what did you do, Sidon, kill the guy? Please tell me you didn't kill the guy."

Sidon snorted a laugh, and squeezed her hand.

"No, my dearest, It was just...messy, I was surrounded by him and his lackeys, they-"

"What did they say about you?" She said sternly, her small, cute eyebrows furrowed in pure distaste. Not in a million years would he repeat what they said about her, ever, especially not to her.

"Well, it was more of what they  _ did  _ that was cause for concern. The grey feathered Rito decided to make a spectacle and tried to tame Medoh all by himself, all while his friends, erm, I suppose I should say the Rito army held me at arrow-point." Link frowned, and squeezed his hand tightly. Oh, the devastated look on her face tore him apart.

"They pointed arrows at you?" Sidon could do nothing but nod sadly and shrug.

"I was just as surprised. Not to say I'm anywhere near silver-tongued, but just a bit of convincing was all it took for them to stand down. Oh," He chuckled, "and their leader disappeared from behind Medoh, which did well to startle them."

"Oh, so... he died?" Sidon gestured his hand flat in an 'so-so' motion.

"Badly wounded, more like. He'd gotten himself stuck up on the top of the beast, and Medoh took this as an attack from Rito village, so it began to dive headfirst into their homes." Link's wide eyed stare was unblinking. 

"So...how did you stop it?" Sidon’s brow shot up.

“With the help of our ancient Shiekah friends! How else?  _ Tsk, _ that reminds me.” The prince undid the metallic clasps of the slate’s belt, and handed it over to its rightful owner. “I believe this belongs to you.” Link couldn’t take the slate from him, for her starry eyed gaze was too transfixed on the prince.

“You saved the day, Sidon. You’re a hero.” Sidon blushed a bluish green, and bowed his head forward in a hasty, bashful sign of respect. He placed the slate and its small belt on the table.

“Your words are too kind, my love. I find myself undeserving of such words when you yourself were the one to inspire such a new, powerful person in me." Following a long pause and a tearful giggle, Link squeezed the prince's hand. "I'd do anything to protect the realm as long as it has you in its future, Link. I do mean that." Link fanned herself with her right hand, and chuckled in frustration. 

"I wish I wasn't so bad with words." Sidon smiled warmly in sympathy, and he shook his head. 

"You and I have a long time to say how we feel. Does that sound agreeable?" After a small nod and a sniffle from the girl, Sidon spoke with the cadence of a seasoned storyteller. "So, after falling into a clearing, one of those... _ things _ , came out of it. The same thing we saw in Rudania.” Link made a disgusted face, she knew exactly what he was speaking of. 

“And?” 

“And I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many arrows at once, it was like a wall of them, I’m sure they fired their entire arsenal.”

“And then it just...went away?” Sidon nodded, and pulled his fingers apart from one point and made a ‘ _ poof’  _ sound. 

“Like a snuffed out luminous stone.”

“And it let out the old champion?” 

“Indeed it did. He was a breath of fresh air, really. Very down to realm man, said he wished he got to talk to you more.” Link cocked her head, and her ears adorably lolled to the side.

“What was his name again?” 

“Revali. Tall fellow? Blue feathers? Covered in blue scarves?” Link rolled her eyes in thought, tapping her fingers on the table, impatient for the memory to come to her.

“I can't remember him.” Sidon smiled sympathetically.

“It’s okay, you’ll remember one day, I’m sure.”

The small Hylian stopped mid chew. She made a motion as if she were about to say something on her mind, but stopped herself short.

"Something the matter, Link?" She shook her head, her barely dampened hair daintily swaying at shoulder length.

"Tell me more!"

“Well, after Revali left, and Medoh perched itself to point it’s weapons at Ganon, I saw our grey friend. No one was around, I’d told them to go, that I’d look for him. I did find him, he was curled up and hurt. I can't say I stayed behind to know the details of his injuries, but, I will be making sure they re-implement their jails.”

“Woah. You went all royal politician on them?” Sidon chuckled flatly.

“Yes, absolutely. What they did to you was...unacceptable, no matter their customs. How could I let that man simply be healed of his injuries, and left to go free without being rehabilitated or punished in some way? Hyrule cannot be a lawless wasteland forever.” Link held a hand over her heart, barely clutching the black fabric of her taut shirt, and smiled through her speech. 

“You...you really protected me, prince.” Sidon melted, looking on her like he’d fallen in love all over again.

“I’d do it again and again, Link.” The Hylian grabbed her jacket, and slid her arm into each sleeve. 

“C’mon, you need to see something.” Sidon’s hand was grasped lightly and pulled with thoughtful care. Goddess, he’d go anywhere she’d want him to.

“Did this staircase get longer?” He asked, his question echoing down the gaping stairwell. Link gave a chipper ‘mhm!’ in response. 

“Just you wait.” As he beheld the village, not only was his breath taken away, but he realized why the earth shook with such deep, shuddering power not the day before.

“My word…” He breathlessly spoke. 

“Welcome to Impa village!” She proudly stated, her right arm wrapped around his left. Kakariko villagers were dotted around, speaking to one another, coming and going from home to home, it all looked so surreal, like a painting of a different era. 

“Impa village. How much time did it take for the ancient Shiekah to build such wondrous contraptions?” He asked himself, and tentatively touched the veiny circuitry that bulged from the walls of the homes, flinching as they reacted with changing colors and a slight discordant hum. He turned around, and spoke excitedly. “This is absolutely astounding! My goodness, how did you keep from telling me this for this long?!” 

“Uhh, well when you got back, I...we…” She became a flustered mess, and hid behind her hair like she usually did when she was embarrassed. Oh yes, last night, when he came upon her moonlit form, she looked like some sort of glowing deity, and he felt himself lucky just to get to touch those small curves that dazzled his eyes more than any vast mountain range or titanic volcano could do. When the prince contemplated his future, the prospect of seeing that body, hearing that soft voice in similar moon-beamed nights brought him close to fainting.

“Say no more, sweet girl.” He chuckled at her and pulled her hair from her face, causing her flushed cheeks to deepen into a crimson red. “Last night, the only thing I could have had on my mind was you, nothing else mattered.” 

“Prince Sidon is back!” Mona yelled from across the long hall, or, perhaps it was more apt to call it a road. She looked absolutely exhausted, nearly panting. “Heya, prince.” She said with an exasperated chuckle, leaning her arm on her side and taking a swig from a canteen. Link squeezed Sidon's arm, and bumped against him playfully as he spoke to the scholar.

“Well, you must be having quite the time!”

“Are you kidding? This is like a playground for me! You don't look hurt! I hope everything went okay in Hebra.” Mona put her canteen back at her side, and held up an exceedingly large sheaf of papers, shaking it to accentuate how large it was. She shuffled through it with a thumb, pages upon pages of notes, scribbled maps and analytics. “All today and last night. Whole floor plan and everything. Impa village now has it’s assigned homes, future residents of Hyrule castle and all.”

“Future residents?” Sidon asked curiously. So much had happened since he’d been gone, it was like walking into a different lifetime.

“Yup. Construction on the castle is taking place right after Ganon is taken down. You’re looking at Princess Zelda’s future, well, temporary future home!” Sidon looked around, each time seeing his surroundings in a different light from all of the information being dumped on him, but in such a beautiful place, all of it seemed quite fitting for such a fancy, important looking village.

"Was this their standard of living back then? This is more luxurious than the great corridor.” Mona shrugged.

“You should see the bathhouse. A lady said it ‘cured her bone spurs.' I believe her.” Link motioned for them to follow. While, she had wanted him to come along to see, she seemed to have other motives as well. Without asking, Sidon continued through the spotless roads among the excited townspeople. 

“How bad was the earthquake here?” Sidon asked, and Link chimed in at his question happily. 

“Some fences fell, it was alright. No one died.” Link pulled out her slate, looking over the map for any changes to it.

The monument to the three golden goddesses sat in the town's centre, a breathtaking sight for a curiously quirky village. What the village had in luxury, it shared in oddity, it’s home’s roofs were at odd angles, different heights and sizes, as if each house was built to suit a different personality. Upon witnessing such wonderful marble-work, Sidon was reminded of home, of the fountain of Mipha in the domain. For the first time, the reminder of this memorial didn’t give a bitter feeling, but one that brought him to fonder times. Mipha would absolutely love this place, her introverted sensibilities would find great comfort in such tight roads, with homes shaded from the sun, simply lit by the glowing walls and occasional, ever-glowing blue flamed torches. She always did enjoy the glow of the luminous stone in a dim room rather than the light of day.

“So this is Impa’s village, I take it?” Link nodded as they approached the console, it’s familiar black glow stood alone, as well as a strange looking set of double doors at its side, with no knobs or handles; they were stubbornly hooked together by two large, chain like clasps nestled in the stone. 

“It was mine technically, but I can’t handle that kind of responsibility, so I gave it to Impa. Anyway, I want to see is what happens when we doooooooo  _ this! _ ” She sat the slate on the console, and it snapped, the screen blinking to life. The screen flew through multitudes of blueprints, documents and flashes of signatures in the ancient dead language of old Shiekah. 

Finally, with a thunderous and deep  _ clack,  _ the double doors unclasped themselves, and slid from each other with loud, stony friction. What laid on the other side could only be described as a home-sized room with a seperate console on its own. Except, instead of the familiar, stony circuitry that lined literally every other ancient Shiekah building, this room was full of unrusted metal, and smelled like warm static. Alarm whistles went off in Sidon’s head, and his sixth sense screamed danger unending. Link hooked her slate back into its holster, and Mona tentatively peered inside. 

“Does the console say anything about this, Link? The slate?” Mona asked worriedly. It appeared everyone was afraid of this room just as much as he was. It just seemed so...forbidden.

“Nope. Your guess is as good as mine.” It’s walls had jagged metal coming from the sides, rows and rows of triangular piping snaking around and around the room made the ground look sharp and dangerous, yet before he could stop her, Link hopped in and began looking around. 

“Be careful, my love! We don’t know what that room is for!” Sidon said, reaching an arm out, but stilling himself in case the room was electrified. It certainly smelled like the lightning storms that ruled over the domain, the smell the prince grew up with. This smell, unlike the sight of the fountain, did not bring good memories, it only brought forth a sick, sour feeling in the pit of his stomach. Link‘s eyes were studying the screen, wide in shock.

“What’s on the console?” Mona asked, visibly shaken by the same sights and smells that Sidon was worried about. 

“It looks like the slate, but bigger! It’s a map of Hyrule!” 

“Oh, please Link, do be careful!” Link giggled from inside the warm room.

“I’ll be okay, prince! They’ve never hurt us before, don’t-” As Link pressed her finger to something on the screen, a flash of blue light offended Sidons vision, and he recoiled along with Mona. As the lights faded, as the dots of blinding white died off in his periphery, Link was absolutely nowhere to be seen. 

" _ Link?!"  _ He yelled, his nerves going into overdrive. No, this couldn't have happened, she was  _ just  _ there. The smell of ozone had intensified, and the prince felt his anxieties creep up his back, threatening to ride him like a horse with horrible scenarios. "Where is she? How...what happened?!" 

"Hang on, don't go in." Mona said, authoritatively holding her left arm out to stop him from making any sudden movements. "If anything, we need a search party or so-" 

Cutting her off mid-sentence, the room flashed bright blue again, invading the prince's vision with temporary blindness. 

Link stood, completely unharmed and wide-eyed, and ran a hand through her hair in amazement. 

"I think...I just went to the domain." 

_ "You what!?"  _ He barked, his fists clenched in confusion. "You did no such thing! You were just here!" Link was hopping up and down, completely ecstatic.

" _ Prince, I just left! I just... I just left! Look!"  _ She held out her hand, gesturing toward herself with an illuminating optimism plastered across her face, the brightest smile he'd ever seen. "C'mon! Let me show you!" Oh, he would fall for that any day. As long as that hand was offered, he'd follow her to the ends of the realm just to grab onto it. He clasped her soft palm, and she lead him to the console. "Get in here, Mona!" 

With her eyes darting nervously around the room, the scholar climbed up the small step, and the three looked upon the sleek, glossy map screen with the colorful rendition of Hyrule's map, markers glowing orange all across the realm. 

_ They couldn't be...those shrines couldn't have been built for…  _

His eyes studied the screen wildly, looking for an answer that he himself could not fully come to comprehend.

_ Ah, there it is. A shrine near the domain.  _

The orange dot was glowing in a tiny patch of trees overlooking the great corridor. 

Before he had a chance to process this information, before he could even  _ blink,  _ his body felt pushed of all its air, like he was being lifted by his throat and dropped somewhere in the same instance, and he coughed loudly at the sensation.

The sloshing of Mona's canteen was heard, deathly silence followed by the scholar speaking nervously. The room they were in was certainly the same, but the outside no longer held the village. It looked just like the riverside stable’s shrine.

"Are we...home?" She peered out the doorway along with the Hylian, and the prince followed close behind. There was a small memorial table, one used to commemorate the dead with trinkets and offerings, one not unlike the table that held a mummified Shiekah in Riverside. Prince Sidon did a double take at the map, and craned his head to look at the depiction of the realm once more.

Sure enough, there was an orange dot in the same place the Riverside stable was located.

No, it couldn't be possible. One couldn’t simply change locations so quickly without even getting to  _ blink.  _ Never in any document, history book was anything like this ever mentioned, as even the most ludicrous depictions of Wizrobes never stated that they could move in such long distances by way of teleportation. Short distances, yes, but this was by use of an art lost to time.

Time was something that didn’t seem to matter to the ancient Shiekah. The orange dots spanned from everywhere. Hebra, Akkala, Gerudo and Hateno. What caught his eye, though, was one dead set in the middle, directly in the heart of Hyrule castle.

At the end of the cathedral-sized room, a rectangular lift powered by that particle littered blue energy was sitting, beckoning for them, floating a few inches off the ground.

“Well,” He started in shock his stomach reeling like it had been turned upside down. “I think we’ll get our answer soon.” With Link’s hand still clutching his, the three wordlessly stepped onto the elevator, and a prism of hard light coated the sides of the lift, and shot upward with a soft hum. The three nervously shifted in the elevator shaft, stony machinery passing them by at alarming speeds. Sidon held his arm over his face to shield himself from the sudden sunlight barging in. Indeed, they were in the same small patch of forest depicted in the map. As his snake-like eyes dilated, on the soil in front of them, a crab skittered away into the brush, and the smell of lake water greeted him with open arms. The smell of home. 

“A bright-eyed crab!” Mona yelled. “Holy-...Okay, so that means...” She darted outside, and her eyes locked on something in the distance. She waved an arm, and yelled with her voice echoing for miles. “ _ HI KING DOREPHAN!” _ Sidon’s knees nearly buckled in shock as he rounded the same opening of the shrine, and looked upon his own domain. 

“Oh!” He barked a laugh, his voice loud and attention-grabbing as always, filled with familiar mirth. “I wasn’t expecting company!” Oh, but such a statement was partly untrue, as the domain was filled with Hylian visitors, even the occasional tall Gerudo vai were swarming the great corridor, speaking with Zora residents. The king's eyes lit up at seeing his son, and his smile stretched even further. 

“H-hello father!” He waved, in shock at what he was witnessing. 

“Son! My goodness, what a surprise! I’d hug you, but you’re in such a precarious spot! Why are you up there?”

“Oh Hylia.” Mona mumbled to herself. “This is...this is not real. I’ve gotta talk to some people here, is that okay?” Sidon had a hard time responding, completely mesmerized by the sheer impossibility of what just happened.

“Son?” Sidon shook his head out of his daze, and he felt Link pulling on his arm. 

“Yes, father! We’ll be right there!”  __

They crossed the great Zora bridge, passing tourists and traders. Seeing the domain harbor such flooding, mixed-raced company in any other scenario would bring him near tears, as a hundred years in isolation has led his people into practically begging to cohabitate with the rest of the realm. They finally got that wish, but he could not focus on much but questioning what was real. Was he panicking too much? Was his heart beating too quickly?

Goddess, what had just occurred? How did he make it to the domain in such a short amount of time? Was he dreaming? 

“Hey! Prince?” Link barked, the two were standing in the middle of the bridge, and she stopped him with a firm tap to his arm. 

“Ah, yes?” 

“Are you okay? I’ve been trying to get your attention for like...a solid minute.” Sidon was usually okay at saving face, but now was an exception.

“I’m...I'm quite shaken.” 

“Look at me.” She cooed, her voice was spoken to melt his nerves like butter, and her crystalline eyes were glimmering like a Zora sapphire. “Take a breath, Sidon. We’re alive. I’m um...I’m really sorry I went in like that, and didn’t listen to you. I’m sure it scared you while I was gone.” Sidon took a deep breath, and could only let out a humored chuckle. 

“I don’t think I’m nearly as shaken as Mona, she practically darted ahead of us.” Indeed, the freckled scholar had fast-walked ahead of them, pulled open the large door to the archives, and immediately began making wild gestures with her arms as if she were yelling to someone, all while the double doors slowly shut behind her. “Discovery is not without its moments of danger. There’s nothing to forgive you for, my love." 

Sidon bent to a knee, and stole a kiss from her cheek. "You’re as courageous as you are breathtaking. I can only be happy you’re okay.”

His words were spoken to ensure she was okay, but in truth, one of the main reasons his hands shook so much, was because of that momentary panic, that feeling of confusion was terribly familiar.

“Hnng, okay, ow, father- you’re going to strangle the life from me!” Dorephan nuzzled his son close to his face, his smile showing gleaming, sharp teeth.

“Come now, you can take down three of the divine beasts, what is a hug from your father?”

“Four divine beasts.” Link said proudly. “Sidon did the last one on his own.” Dorephan’s eyes were bedazzled with amazement.

“Is this true?!” Sidon nodded, still held firmly in the air by his father's grasp.

“Yes, yes! It’s very hard to breathe when you- OOF” The Zora king tugged his child into another vice grip hug. Sidon would have continued to tell him to lighten his grip, but the sound of his father sniffling stilled his words on his tongue. He’d never heard his father so  _ happy  _ before. 

“Oh, you- you...you make me so proud! Your mother and sister would be so proud of you as well!” This praise was so overwhelming, as Sidon had only heard his father cry once, a few nights after he’d learned of Mipha’s death. He recalled that night, but could only think on it for a moment, as it one of the most horrific and heartbreaking sounds he'd ever heard. This sobbing, however, was filled with giddy, overjoyed speech.

"I did it for the future of Hyrule, father. I did it for the future Mipha deserved." Sidon managed to choke his words out through the tight embrace. "But we've still yet to...kill Ganon." The prince was let go, and plopped to the ground on his feet.

“I would be worried, but...perhaps you have inherited Mipha’s good graces. She sees you from the next life, Sidon. I know she does." Dorephans gaze shifted over to Link, who had her hands clasped at her waist politely. The last time she held audience with his father, she was much more nervous, hiding half behind the prince and speaking little to no words. "As for  _ you _ ." He thunderously spoke, a voice that would demand fear from others, but got a smile out of the small Hylian. "You probably have seen more than one person thank you for your bravery and selflessness among facing danger, all for the act of unifying Hyrule once again, am I correct?" Link nodded, and the giant king drew in another heavy breath. "Well, allow for just  _ one  _ more old king to shake your hand." With his outstretched arm, he waved his index finger near the girl. "Yes, the...the index finger, there we are." Link's arm was tugged up and down in a handshake, at least, that's the closest thing you could call that action.

"I'm honored, King Dorephan." He chuckled as he retracted his arm back to his chair. 

"I'm honored that you're honored! And, just call me Dorephan, hm?” 

They stood there and spoke for a solid hour, the noontime sun peeking up and spilling light over into the bowl-shaped domain. 

His nerves were calmed due to him speaking on his travels with Link, and he sat with his legs tucked criss-crossed so the Hylian could lean her head up against his. Her touch was the one thing that completed this moment, watching her giggle and joke along with his father filled him with such an overwhelming joy, and he couldn't help but feel starstruck as she noticed his gaze, and playfully pushed her nose against his head fin. He lost himself looking at her, just staring at her eyes, so contented just to stare back into his. 

"So I told him to keep it simple. As well as the rest of the council. Been that way for hundreds of years, why should I expect the elder council to react any differently than a succinct 'yes, my liege.'"

Oh Hylia, what was he talking about?

"Yes, father, of course." Sidon said, clearing his throat and standing up. 

"You heard none of what I'd just said, Sidon. Don't try and fool your way through my monologues. You're no better than I was with your mother. Such a lovestruck beast you are." Sidon scoffed, and looked down at his beloved, who was holding in an explosive barrage of laughter. 

"Are you not going to ask how we got here, father?"

"Ruta!" He said, confidently leaning forward on his throne, and Sidon confused his confidence with a shake of his head.

"Ruta is in Kakariko, currently! No, here’s how we did it.” He held his arms behind his back, and puffed his chest proudly. “We disappeared from one place, and appeared here!" Sidon felt himself smirking as Link was losing her battle with giggles. The king chuckled, as if he was playing along. 

"Yes, that's what happens when one walks from one place to another."

"No, no!” Sidon pointed skyward at the recently unearthed shrine. “We came from that!" 

"You...disappeared from one place…" Sidon nodded along with him, and helped him finish the sentence. 

"And appeared in another, yes!" 

"Like uh, what are they called? Wiz..." 

"Wizrobes." He stated matter-of-factly. “Yes, except, this is  _ real _ , father. I’m not pulling you along on some prank. There’s a room in there that slingshot us all the way over here! We were literally  _ just _ there!” Mona was seen walking with a group of old scholars, a look of determination on her face almost kept him from trying to get her attention. “Erm, hello there? where are you headed, Mona?” She snapped to attention, and laughed nervously. 

“We have tests to run. If this is reliable transportation, this may be the biggest advancement Hyrule has  _ ever  _ seen." 

Good  _ Hylia,  _ she was right. He could barely fathom it, the impact that instantaneous travel would have on economic life. It had the potential to flip everything the prince had learned about diplomatics on its head.

"Well we're coming with you." Sidon turned to his father. King Dorephan inhaled deeply, resting his gargantuan head on a fist, lazily leaning on his armrest.

"You're disappearing again, hm?"

"Trust me, I'll be back soon." The kind king smiled brighter than the sun above.

"I do trust you, son. I love you dearly. And you, Link, please keep yourself safe. Your future is with my son. I’ve decreed it. Consider that a matter of legality!” He said this with a wink, and a jolly chuckle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is The Champion Vai, but jeez I love writing from Sidon's perspective c:
> 
> Also, I wanted to do a bit with the teleporting mechanic, but tweak it to serve more of a story purpose. I have a knack for doing that. I just hope it works, and is fun to read ^^ 
> 
> I love you all!


	34. Farore's Olive Branch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lull in a raging storm allows for a moment to breathe, a chance to relax in the eye of a hurricane, and the two take the opportunity to enjoy themselves!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The perspective switches twice in this one! Hope that doesn't bother anyone! also hope you don't mind a 10,000 word chapter! C:
> 
> AAAAAAA I HIT 200,000 WORDS!!!!!!!! 
> 
> AAAAAA IM AT 300 KUDOS OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Link was fast-walking along with the prince, having to make great strides just to keep up with the surprisingly quick elders as they walked along the great, blue bridge. 

“So, what’s your plan?” Sidon asked quietly, trailing behind the elder scholars to the Zora domain’s very own shrine. 

“Well, it took a lot of talking to get them out of the archives, but, I think once they see it they’ll loosen up a little.” 

“No, I mean why are you taking them there in the first place?” Mona wore a surprised look on her face, and slapped her forehead. 

“Duh. Of course that’s what you meant. I think we may need to change how we’re teaching trade. And with this device, we could get all the scholars together in one day.” The old, wrinkled zora ahead of them were speaking in hushed tones, all surrounded around Muzu, who took the lead. “If I tried to teach my pupils with lessons like we have now, with _that_ weird chamber just begging to be used?” She cleared her throat, and firmly shook her hand out to accentuate her point. “Why would I teach how to prepare for broken carriages and overworked horses coming in from trades when we may not even need the horses?” Sidon rocked his jaw in thought.

“It's going to be a hard sell, you know." The scholar shrugged. The elder council, as well as most old Zora, were firmly planted in tradition, just as Impa had informed Link before she even set foot in the domain.

"Eh," Mona began, "The ancient Shiekah speak for themselves." Link felt a dull, throbbing pain to her left breast as she bumped against the prince in front of her, as he'd stopped dead in his tracks along with the rest of the group. 

The elders had a difficult time finding the courage to even step on the lift that would take them downward. Muzu turned his stingray shaped head fin, and spoke with a glaring side-eye.

"If I'm minced by some strange Shiekah beam in the next few moments, I'll haunt every single one of you until I see fit that you've suffered enough."

"Muzu, it's not going to kill you, the three of us just used it, I promise you it is safe." Sidon walked along with the rest of the group into the rectangular elevator, and through the pessimistic mumbled dialogue of the elders, and a few words regarding the inner machinations that flew past them as they descended between Sidon and Mona, Link had a sudden epiphany of a plan pop in her head. Keeping herself from jumping up and down at the idea was quite a hard task indeed.

“Good goddess.” Muzu croaked, “This place was under me my whole life?” He sounded more annoyed than astonished. Mona cleared her throat, and astutely spoke.

“Wild, isn’t it? Every place that’s ever had any historical significance has its own shrine. Er, at least, I think that’s my working theory.” 

“I think all of this calls into question the structural integrity of the very ground below us.” A thin, sickly looking Zora elder spoke through whistling teeth. “How has the ground not caved in at all this activity?”

“I’m not sure,” Muzu began bitterly, “But I don’t trust the Shiekah had that in mind.” Link caught the prince rolling his eyes at this, and he hopped up into the room. The grumpy zora eyed the prince maliciously. "With all due respect, prince, the very _idea_ of using such dangerous and old equipme-" 

"Ah, but Muzu, I insist, you really must! If there's anyone who needs to see this, it's our very own head of elder council!" The charming prince held out a hand for the elder to take to help him up the relatively steep step into the room, but was met with a curt grumble as he heaved himself over the hurdle with little effort. The prince was so used to dealing with the elders, that it seemed like the words and actions he chose to use were as if he knew exactly how to either push their buttons, or pull them along in their stubborn dialogue. The man was no doubtedly able to just smile through the negativity, which was fortunate, for he had to be so stressed after all that'd happened in Hebra. Link felt this stress secondhand, and fought the urge to comfort him, surrounded by less-than-accepting elders. She did, however, get a quick squeeze to her side, a spot that just so happened to be ticklish, causing her to giggle awkwardly in the crowd of mumbling elders.

She had to steel herself from giving him a playful smack on the arm, and stood motionless as if nothing had happened. Her blushing face, however, told a different story.

Mona stood in the middle of the console, surveying the various orange dots and surrounded by oddly silent elders. 

"Well, which looks sufficient, Muzu?"

"You say this room can take us _anywhere?"_

"Mhm."

Muzu took a long pause, and surveyed the map like he was attempting to read a book in an alien language. Link spoke up, rocking on her tippy toes to see over the small group. 

"* _Ahem* Hateno"_ Mona looked back at the girl quizzically, but her expression broke into a realization.

"Oh, yeah, the melting pot of Hyrule. Good idea, Link!” 

“No problem!” The Hylian said with a thankful grin; her plan was coming together very nicely.

“I do want to do one thing in Kakariko first, if I could, though.” She mentioned this to herself as she searched the standing army of orange icons on the screen. 

It was then, right before the button to the Kakariko shrine was pressed, that Link caught the little orange icon right in the center of Hyrule castle's ruins. Not only was it a little larger than the rest, it was pulsating a very faint, glowing red. This probably meant it was defunct, right? The castle was absolutely in shambles, jutting beams of stone and ancient splintered wood was all that occupied that circle of ruin, as well as the cloudy form of Ganon itself. There was no way any room could be in proper condition with one hundred years of such violent and ruthless treatment. She would have mentioned something about the icon, but the sudden shock to her system, as well as the bright blue flash of light startled her enough to take her mind off of it. The group of elders held their brittle arms over their eyes, groaning in annoyance like some angered choir. 

“Oh, for the love of H-” Muzu cleared his throat as he viewed Impa village in all of its glory, white stone walls accompanied by the still excitable residents of Kakariko. “What black magic is _this?”_ Mona wordlessly hopped out of the room, and turned around as she jogged into the bustling town. 

“I’ll be back in a sec!” Link blinked. Not only had this strange room worked its magic a _third_ time, it did so with roughly ten people inside of it without so much as a momentary flash of blue light.

“If you could believe it, Muzu, we’re in Kakariko as we speak!” The elder remained silent, surrounded by his peers who looked to him for even a word, but he spoke nothing. “Are you quite alright, Muzu? Is something the matter?” After a lengthy, annoyed breath, he spoke with no intent on anyone else hearing him. 

“It’s impressive.” He stated simply, as if he could do nothing but face defeat at such a miracle as instant transportation. Sidon looked as if he’d seen a ghost, he’d never heard that word come out of the elders mouth before. Perhaps this sudden change of dialogue impaired Sidons judgement in the man, as he stuttered his next few words.

“Y- yes! It is! Mona hopes to get the rest of the scholars together to speak of how this could potentially change trade for the future of Hyrule! Is that not exciting?!” Muzu crossed his arms, and grunted. 

“I said it was impressive, what more do you want?” Sidon smiled to himself away from the gazes of the elder zora, as if he were thinking ‘ _ah, there’s the Muzu I know.’_

“Really, M-Mona, you have to tell me where you’re taking me first before you grab me like that!” 

“I’ve come with precious cargo!” The freckled scholar said happily, pulling Paya with her fingers interlocked with the girls white cloth wrapped hand. Her hair was down from its predictable style. Her usual bun, which was always stuffed by a singular band, accentuated with the two rods to keep it all in place, was let loose to show flowing, untamed silver locks down to her waist. Link felt a pang of jealousy at such a full head of hair, wishing she could have hair that swayed so low to her waist as well. How did her hair not grow while she spent all that time in the resurrection chamber?

“I told you, silly, we’re going to Hateno!” Paya giggled through huffs of exhausted breath.

“How are we going to do that whe-” The girl turned pale as a ghost, viewing who to her were a group of old strangers huddled and staring her down like a communion of vultures. “Uhm, h-...hel...hello.” The group gave not so much as a mumble, not at all helping the poor girls anxieties. 

“Mona, who is this one?” Mona steeled herself from a grimace, as the elders upset tone struck a discordant chord with the girl. He wouldn’t even so much as look at the shy, white robed girl.

“This is my _friend,_ Muzu. Her name is Paya. You can say hello.” The elder paused, and with a twisted arm, he spoke begrudgingly.

“Hello there.” 

“She’s also the granddaughter of lady Impa, the head of this village.” She said this as if it would command respect, but the elder simply looked the girl up and down with distaste. As Sidon has informed Link before, the elder council and a lot of the older Zora in general were quite prejudiced against the Shiekah race, as it was their own technology that took their princess, their symbol of pride and divinity from them that one hundred years ago. Or at least, that’s what they believed. Truly, the calamity was the result of an infinitely useful discovery happening at a horribly inopportune time. Regardless of all of that circumstance, seeing such hatred to someone so sweet and unassuming left a bitter feeling in the back of Links throat, a blind prejudice that she herself was the victim of not a few days before, giving her a shocking realization of what some people are truly capable of.

Mona leaned over to whisper something in the girls ear. With a quick and nervous laugh, the silver haired girl quickly whispered something back as the scholar nonchalantly searched the table-like map for the nearest shrine to Hateno, and broke out in a quick giggle as well. Link couldn’t help but notice that pose she was doing near Mona, the kind that had her sunken into herself with her shoulders slumped forward in fear was one closely resembling how Link was when she first arrived in the domain, worried to death of how people would view her simply because of who she is. 

“I’m about to blow your mind, Paya.” She whispered gently, and pressed her finger to the immaculate map screen. In another flash, the immediate scent of strong lavender pulperie invaded Link’s nostrils. The reason behind this overpowering scent sat square on a tattered cushion surrounded by dried leaves and incense, gold coins that were cut squarely shimmered at the wrinkled Shiekah mummies feet. This calm mummy had surrounding it a horde of beautifully shaped gemstones, unscathed smoothed rocks, and yellowed scrolls in piles around it. 

“H-h-how did you do t-that?” Mona smirked slyly as she pulled Paya along, and the group walked toward the sitting mummy. 

“I told you we’d go to Hateno.” The scholar stated with a knowing grin. 

“I-...I thought you were joking.” Mona’s brow shot up, and she shook her head. 

“I’m really not good with jokes, Pie.” Link put her hand out to grab one of the shimmering gold coins on the table, yet stilled herself from doing so. She should probably have rubber gloves or something to touch an object so utterly priceless. Link spoke in the quiet room, among the quiet group who stood over the altar like some silent religious rite.

"Everything here probably hasn't seen daylight in ages." She shuddered at the thought, the feeling of an invisible chill brushing the back of her neck. Every era; the shrouded age of twilight, the enigmatic age of water, all had occurred while this singular golden coin she fought to pick up laid just as still, in the same position as it was when whatever person wanting to pay tribute set it down last. It was here when countless Ganons were slain, when countless versions of herself drew their last breath. If she thought too long on this, she felt she’d go absolutely mad. 

"I-It's so strange to see these old coins. They were once our c-currency, in a time where rupees weren’t universal. I think it's best we don't disturb this elder or his or her belongings." After a meditative few moments, the group stood to crowd the elevator. It was small, but _just_ accommodating enough lift for all of them. Being so close to so many people reminded her of Gerudo town's afternoons, packed full of the most intense and bustling markets she’d ever seen. She hoped Vilia and Ashai were doing well.

"We can get Deene, then we need to get Kayden." Link leaned over at the scholar to speak in secret, yet it was hard to do this with the prince looming over her at her right, his hand covertly caressing her shoulder. 

“Do you think Sidon and I could stay here for a while?” Mona stared at the stony ground in thought, and exhaled through her gills. 

“Don’t see why not. This only really needs the scholars, I just thought you two might wanna come along.” Link smiled brightly with barely contained excitement, and struggled to keep her voice to a low enough volume. 

“I want to take him to the beach.” Mona’s shoulders slumped, and she smiled along with the girl, slack jawed and open mouthed.

“Oh he’s gonna love that. Tsk.” Mona playfully bumped the girls shoulder with a fist. “I wish I was as smooth as you.” Link beamed proudly, before her eyes were once again met with the harsh sunlight of the clear, cool sunny day. It smelled like Hateno, all right. Saltwater spray had made its way over to where they all stood, a shrine that had fresh soil surrounding it from where it had broken from the earth was jutted particularly close to Hateno proper. The quirky buildings lining the road were just as charming as the last time she saw them, vastly different colors and shapes of homes with residents that matched. Similar to the days before, the well-trodden road populated with chattering neighbors and sun baked grizzled travelers paid the group little mind, setting everything up like a seaside painting. Among such lovely sights, the only outlier was Link's hut of a house, unassumingly standing with its cobbled stone overgrown with vines.

"W-w-we're in Hateno!" Paya sputtered her words like she'd only just learned to speak. W-we were just home! B...but now we're just _here?!_ " Mona shrugged at the ecstatic girl, the sun beat down in the elders granddaughters eyes, causing her to shield herself with a robed arm. 

"You told me last night you haven't been here in a while, sooooo…." 

"Since I was very young, yes, but I…" The Sheikah girl held back a blush, but could not contain such a mixture of excited and anxious feelings too well. "I never intended to arrive today! I had errands, I don't even have my hair up, I-I-"

"Hey," Mona spoke with a maternal timbre, stopping the words from fumbling out of the shiekah girl's mouth. "We can go back anytime you like. I can even run you back now. Or, you and I can spend the day running around Hyrule? In our new little magic room?" Through gentle fingers barely peeking out of large robed sleeves, Paya held her knuckles over her lips and looked at the scholar with mesmerized, stubborn anxiety. "C'mon! I bet Hateno has some nice hair ties."

Such stubborn, deep thought broke into a shy smile hidden by her robes fabric, but seen in the girls dark auburn eyes. This smile got an immediate look of relief from Mona, and the scholar boldly pulled her shoulder toward her in a side-hug. "There's a smile! I promise we won't be all day, okay?"

“That smell.” Sidon stated dreamily, inhaling as deeply as he could. “I could smell that all day.” 

“How about we do that, then?” Link nudged him, and his expression grew confused. The prince eyed her curiously with his gold, shimmering irises.

“What do you mean?” 

“Let’s go to the beach!” Like a child who’d been given a puppy, Sidons smile grew, and the bags under his eyes seemed to diminish, if just a little bit.

“I...yes...I would very much enjoy that.”

“Prince, you’re going to leave your hand out of this affair?” With a rather quick response, the prince nodded, a smile that cut through the eternal grimace of the elder was plastered across his face. 

“I believe it’s for the best. I do need a day to myself, after such a day like yesterday.” 

“C’mon, everyone." Mona chirped, "Let’s leave them to it.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You really thought this through, didn’t you?” 

“No, it just popped in my head as soon as we started using that room!” Sidon chuckled as the two navigated their own path through a small section of forest hugged up against the beach. “I, um...you deserve it, Prince.” The sights and smells of the beach grew more distinct as he pushed past the brush, stepping over the rocks and onto the warm sands of what locals called ‘Hateno beach’. Hateno beach seemed to just be the generous slice of land and water that was overlooked from the precipice of Hateno proper. And oh, what a sight it was. It’s foaming waves licked the dampened sand in uniform pushes, a hypnotic movement that elicited both a calming serenity, and a satisfying sense of symmetry.

“ _Oh, it’s…._ it’s even more beautiful up close.” Truly, it was everything his father had relayed, how he spoke in long winded breaths about his mother's love of the ocean and all its splendor. This love, this intense romanticism for such a place was not without its merits. The smell of bitter seaweed, the sight of infinite waters brought a mixture of fear and curiosity, and the thing that really completed it, was the Hylian next to him, just as in awe as he was. She spoke, in an absolute daze. 

"Seeing it from Hateno is so different from being this close.” He was close enough now so that his feet were covered by the lapping waters.

“Well,” he stated simply, unclasping his rapier from his belt, plopping at the sand below him, “I’m going in!” 

“Pfft, will I ever see you again?”

“Well, you’re getting in with me, aren’t you?! Come, my love, take your boots off, they’ll be soaked!” Before she had any chance of stopping him, the prince gracefully skimmed through the top layer of water, and set his vision below the depth of the ocean for the very first time in his life. The sun filtering through the waters left undulating bright beams dancing across the golden-sanded sea floor, littered with all different walks of oceanic life. Many of the creatures and plant life he read of as a kid in biology textbooks were present. Starfish pressed against the sandy floor, skittering crabs and lazily floating seaweed swaying next to distant coral. 

Bigger than any pool or river in the domain, the ocean’s reach extended further than any horizon he’d ever seen, off into a murky, blue tinted fog to infinite nothing. This was in one way, a second home to him. His distant ancestors made claim to life in waters such as this, with similar sea life teeming and floating around in briny waters passing generations behind him. Tentatively, he took a breath of the warm waters. Inhaling seawater was like learning to stand all over again, as it met his gills with a tense pull and sting, and for a moment, he was worried for his own safety. Before these fears turned to panic, however, his instincts calmed him, as did the sounds of rushing underwater waves. What was left was the aftertaste of mineral rich, bitter saltwater, but it was breathable. What wonders did such a place hide within its grasp? 

He spun his body around. Ninety degrees, one-eighty, three-sixty, seven-twenty, around and around in a weightless dance against the push and pull of the ocean. He continued to float off, his worries drifting from him like abandoning cargo from a sinking ship. Sidon rested his body near the bottom of the sea floor, watching as the sun’s rays were blocked by Link, floating her way into the ocean’s waters. He watched her as she waded gently, her clothes freely swaying with the waves that pushed and pulled her slender form. She had no idea he was directly below her, nearly ready to pull up on her like one would to heave themselves up and over to the safety of a cliff's edge.

Sidon’s arms breached through the waters to snatch her up like a predator, an arm to grab her waist, and an arm to swing himself up to lift his head above the waters. He heard a surprised shout, followed by uncontained giggles. 

“ _Ahh! Don’t eat me!”_ He couldn’t help but giggle along with her, brushing wet hair out of her soaked face. 

“Oh, but you look so delicious!” He parted from her, and waded with his lips just above the surface. The prince spoke quietly, with just enough excitement to make the girls ears perk up. “Did you see?” 

“See what?” Sidon brought his left hand above water, and pointed down. 

“Under.” She smiled brightly, and shook her head. He gestured for her to follow. “Come look.” He sunk down into the depths, and along with him, Link’s eyes squinted as she joined him, her eyes adjusting to the saltwater. 

Her attention snapped immediately to the colorful bundles of coral, covered with swaying algae and littered with shells all displaying their own swirly designs. Link’s eyes widened and sparkled at the majesty that he too was having trouble conceiving. She couldn’t dart through the water like the prince could, but he kept pace with her as she excitedly tried to chase a porgy through the shallow sea. She almost got him, too, pulling along through the water like she were desperately climbing a mountain. With a swift push, the fish was within the princes grasp, and he turned around to see Link cheering for him soundlessly with a gleaming smile. The girl rose up to catch some air, and Sidon stayed floating underwater, holding the struggling brown porgy in his hands. 

He couldn’t help but be visited by visions of using this fish to do what he never thought he’d want to do. He remembered about ten years after the calamity, his eyes caught one of the Zora men near the safer spots to catch fish, grabbing a long trout out of the waters of the domain to propose to his girlfriend. That scene warmed his heart at the time, but as he grew older, he spent a lot of his time wondering if he’d ever get that same feeling. No matter who he set his gaze upon back then, any recommended suitors among the Zora people never caught his eye. None of them excited him, none scratched this strange, intense itch that he never knew he had until he met her. Oh, how she talked about her travels, her aspirations, how she talked about conquering and vanquishing evil like it were nothing to her. Like a siren, he was captivated by her voice as soon as he’d heard it, in a way that no one else has come to do. It’s not that his people weren’t beautiful, or caring, but...

None of them were Link. 

He never thought he’d end up anywhere near the ocean, never with anyone so important to him. Yet here he was, holding a sea fish, with his Hylian love diving back down to meet his gaze once more, looking at him as if she were expecting something. There was a vast, infinite ocean just at his back, but Link was floating right in front of him, her eyes contently meeting with his. The brown porgy wrestled its way out of his hands in his daze, and stopped his mind from wandering. She laughed, he could hear her muffled joy even underwater. Goddess, what a beautiful voice, even the weight of the ocean couldn't keep it from reaching him.

He held out a hand, and she smiled as she took it. 

Sidon breached above the water with her in tow, and pulled her close to him.

“I have an idea, my love.” Her smiling face was covered in running droplets of seawater. 

“What is it?” He used his index finger and thumb to pull her dripping hair from her eyes.

“What do you say you and I...perhaps set up camp?" Link's ear flitted curiously, and her eyes widened.

"Like a campfire?" She said excitedly.

"Mm, yes ma'am!"

"You know how to make a fire, huh?" 

"Pff, you laugh, but I'll show you! Let's go gather some wood!"

Stepping onto the hot beach sands, his rapier went right back upon his belt, and Link's crossbow was slung around to her back.

"What were you, a scout?" Sidon turned to look at her with knowing. She looked like such a strong warrior with those weapons hugging onto her.

"I was particularly fond of a Hylian scouting book growing up. I used to think I'd have to forage for my own when I got older." She giggled.

"So now you know which berries are poisonous, right?" He nodded matter-of-factly.

"Yes I do! I also know which mushrooms are safe to eat!" The two pushed past the brush and into the sparse forest that surrounded Hateno. Such a place was a prime spot for foraging, teeming with fruit bushes and small animals. Link spoke worriedly.

"Are all mushrooms not safe to eat?" Sidon looked at the girl like a concerned parent. 

"No they aren't. Some are deadly to Zora and Hylian people alike. There’s one that even makes you hallucinate for days on end." The ocean kissed girl looked pale as a ghost. “Why do you look so terrified?” He asked sternly, to which she just stared off in thought at a nearby tree, giving him cursory glances.

“I may have eaten mystery mushrooms on more than one occasion.” 

“Goodness, Link, you ate and lived like a bokoblin, I swear it.” 

“I didn’t! It was like, two nights!”

“I’m just glad you didn’t poison yourself!” Her worried expression softened.

“I regretted it as soon as I took a bite of it. It was gross.” 

“Good graces. Did you at least cook it?”

“Over a bokoblin made fire, yeah.” Sidon didn’t know whether he should shake his head, or give her a warm embrace and tell her she’d never have to go through that again. It was that ruggedness, that willingness to brave such harsh conditions just to do what was right that he admired so much about her. 

“You’re a wild woman, Link.” The Hylian’s expression grew flustered, and a bashful smile was partially hidden by her wet hair. The prince could tell that simply referring to her as female made her feel good, as being constantly reaffirmed you’re normal most likely would be. Giving her this feeling, this happiness, was simply overwhelming.

The bushes ahead shifted, shaking yellowing leaves to the ground, and immediately the Hylian was brought onto high alert. This alertness was not without good reason, as it was accompanied by strange growling noises, ones unlike anything Sidon had heard thus far in their travels. It was like the flick of a luminous stone, so quickly did she stand ridgid to attention with her small eyebrows furrowed. From out behind the trees, a snorting, already angered scouting party of bokoblin stood, snarling like dogs. No biology books prepared him for how unnervingly _off_ they looked, their eyes were set looking in different directions, their stances weren’t quite focused, but blindly aggressive with limbs that all sort of acted on their own accord.

Lizalfos were no doubtedly controlled by Ganon’s wrath, but bokoblins, they were _consumed_ by it. They hopped around like addled children in the midst of a fit, dodging the first of Link’s bolts. His mother's rapier would finally come to be of use, as it had been many times before when protecting his home from raiding Lizalfos trying to make his domain their own. Pulling it from its sheath, its sheer length gave him the advantage of being a good distance away from any foe. The group of seven or so bokoblins ran forward, uncoordinated and stumbling like their depth perception was stunted, falling over sticks and rocks yet brandishing dangerous looking spears and clubs all the same. An explosion of purple mist ruptured in the air as his rapier met with ones head. However, it wasn’t him they aimed to gang up on, no. It looked like they were specifically going for Link, their eyes were dead set on her as they stumbled forward, not paying the prince any mind. While they were small, their numbers were many, that alone kept him from treating this like some macabre game. 

Could it be that Ganon’s influence knew who to attack? Why would this band of beasts be zeroed in here, as if they had a target to get to? Perhaps Ganon knew what was at stake; how close she was to facing him herself, and he was _terrified._

Her second bolt zipped past ones’ ear, getting the girl to let out a frustrated grunt.

They were gaining upon her and swarming her like waist high toddlers with knives, and she dropped her crossbow by her side, kicking a dusty cloud of dirt at the closest one, causing it to recoil angrily as she slipped her hand into her bag for something in particular. 

_Pop,_ a knee high bokoblin was vanquished by Sidon's blade, its feared expression sizzled into the air in that same disturbing fashion as the Lizalfos underwent, yet the rest of them seemed not even phased by this, having one target and one target only. With the Blade of the Eight not at her side, Sidon felt his instincts go into overdrive, his teeth bearing anger that nothing could quell. No, he had no other option than to pick the nearest Bokoblin up by the head and throw it against a tree with a furious yell, a demand for their attention, _anything_ to keep them from advancing on Link. Its body exploded on impact, and he set his sights on another preparing to thrust its spear into the Hylian. 

Link held in her hand a curious black and blue rod, and from it shot intense blue light that cast fear eyes of her enemies. With naught but two flicks of her wrist, two simple swings, the band of swarming fiends erupted into absolute _nothing,_ save for the severed clubs and rudimentary pikes that lay broken on the forest floor. In that moment she looked furious, anger had narrowed her eyes and caused a stress filled vein to bulge in her neck. Her panting was not slowed in the slightest as she somehow sheathed the strange sword in her hand. She looked so angry, so absolutely primal.

Goddess, she looked so beautiful, that wild woman.

No noises but her panting remained, no rustling of bushes or tiny warcries of corrupted Bokoblin bounced off of the trees, just the fading sounds of her heavy breathing. She gave him a nervous glance, asking him without words if he was alright, if everything was okay. 

“Are you unharmed, Link?”

She nodded, and her shoulders relaxed slightly, as his voice had calmed her down from her rattled state. “What in the realm was that weapon?” She chuckled, and handed him the smooth, warm hilt. It was obviously Shiekah in nature, familiar blue circuitry lined its matte black material.

“It was in Impa village. It was the only thing we found in there, I think.”

"It's awfully light, how did you-" with an accidental press of the side knob, the blade shot out in the blink of an eye. Link giggled to herself.

"Like that." He noted the blades jagged edges, its blood-letting teeth made him feel like he was holding the lower jaw of some monstrous creature. "Can we talk about how you threw that bokoblin?" Sidon pressed his thumb back on the little button, making the blade simply dissipate into thin air. 

"I didn't expect them to be that small. It just seemed like the right course of action."

"You just palmed him up against a tree! Like, woo!" She picked up her crossbow, and slung it brazenly around her back. "Ah, that was fun!"

"Was it?" He asked, an unbelieving chuckle escaping his lips. It _did_ indeed get his adrenaline going, yet the thought of Ganon's minions targeting her specifically did not make the exhilarating feeling last. _No matter_ , it had been too long since they've had a moment to rest, and perhaps this event truly was some freak encounter. "Okay, yes, I do have to admit. That was fairly fun." he stated, placing the strange sword's hilt back into its rightful owners hands.

"See!? You hear that, bokoblins?!" She mockingly yelled into the forest. "My boyfriend will throw your heads against the trees!"

He almost wanted to shush her, fearful of another wave of attackers. Even though he did accept the possibility of it being a random chance, a roving party of brainless bokoblins looking for something to conquer, it left a bad feeling in his stomach. She looked up at him with beaming pride, as if he were the one that vanquished five bokoblins in two swings.

He held up a little branch from the ground, dried and dead with its leaves browned and withered. 

"Think we can get a whole lot of these?" with a contently closed-eyed nod, she hummed in agreement. 

"Yeah!"

"Prince, do you think Ruta is lonely without us?" She asked curiously, her arms filled with differing sizes of firewood. Sidon felt his heart drop. 

"Oh, don't say such things, you'll make me sad!" 

"I'm gonna give it a hug when we get back."

"I will say, however, that traveling by foot does have its benefits." He heaved a stack of wood and rocks against his chest, and began walking toward Hateno beach with Link just behind. "Who knows what things are out there? Scattered across the realm could be any number of pre-calamity relics, just _waiting_ to be rediscovered."

"I love it when you talk like that." Sidon took pause to glance behind him, right into her admiring eyes. 

"Is that so?" 

"You just...you talk like you've spent a lot of time dreaming about what's out there." Sidon smiled warmly.

"I have. Many of my daring memories all come from works of fiction. From swashbuckling renegades at sea, to upstanding knights in a years-long search for a cauldron of eternal youth. I began to believe that perhaps life _is_ that exciting, and I was just missing out on it." They passed through the trees, back into the darkening daylight of near-evening, changing hues from pastel blue to golden orange painted the cloudless sky, and the ocean's waters grew ever darker in the lacking light. "Truthfully, when I met you, I realized how much water that notion holds."

"Well, you _are_ the other hero of Hyrule." She said this as the sea breeze blew through her drying hair. "We helped discover an underground Shiekah village, we ride on a giant elephant." Sidon smirked as he set his load of wood and stone down on the sandy ground, and got to his knees in preparation of building a small fire pit.

“It’s a good thing we have so much more time, then, because I’m not nearly done carving a place in this realm, as I’ve literally only just set foot in it.”

“You just set foot in my life, and you’ve made a pretty big impact.” Her tone was so intensely genuine that it sent a shiver down his spine. 

“Well,” He said, looking over at her and snapping a thick stick in two. “We’ve only just begun, Link. We can carve out whatever path we choose. Wherever post-Ganon Hyrule takes us, I'll have you with me.” The small girl sat herself down in the sand, her elbows on her legs, waiting patiently for the prince to warm her from the chilling wind.

"I like where it's going, so far."

"As do I. I couldn't want for more." The girl leaned her hands back, and dug her fingers into the sand. 

"The ocean is so...hypnotic up close." Sidon began filling the divet in the sand with sticks, from large to small. The warmth of a fire was much needed in that growing chill of night, as it had begun to make Link shiver in her damp clothing.

"It is, isn't it?" 

"Makes me wish I had gills." The prince smirked.

"They're not all that exciting. It's not uncommon to get things stuck in them. Plus, they're considered the most fragile parts of the Zora body." 

"Yeah? Why is that?" She asked, leaning in. 

"Zora can contract many of the same ailments Hylians do. Our gills are where most of these ailments manifest. If I get a cold, don't let me sneeze near you." Her nose scrunched up in disgust, as the realization of what he was implying hit her.

"Ew! No! You turn into a snot bomb!"

"Oho, don't get me started on Hylian hay fever. Here, dearest, could you hand me your necklace?" She untucked her luminous stone necklace, and gently clutched it in her palm. She was hesitant.

"Any reason why?" 

"You'll see. I promise, I do not ask with ill intent." He said softly, his volume matching that of the gentle ocean waves. 

Placing it in her palm, the sparkling necklace was taken with care, and the prince held up a small pebble with his left hand, and the stone in his right. With small applied friction from one to the other, a dark blue and purple spark flew from the stone, and set light the tinder that laid waiting in the fire pit. Link's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she scooted close, the two of them surrounding the growing fire, enjoying its newly created warm fumes that spiraled through the air above.

"It's a little trick you pick up when your domain doesn't have flint for a hundred years. See?" He held out the necklace for her to take, and her eyes that reflected the glowing fire studied the stone. 

"Not a scratch!" She slipped the necklace back around her neck without hesitation, and scooted herself just a bit closer to the prince, a fully contented smile pulled at her lips.

The growing fire danced in the evening air, casting lengthening shadows among the golden miniature dunes of the shore. The two fell silent, falling prey to peaceful sounds of the crackling fire and lapping waves.

Sidon broke this meditative silence with a question.

"How hungry are you?" Link shook her head from her trance. 

"Huh? I could eat." Sidon smiled, watching the girl's bright eyes pop out from her messy head of hair.

"Well, the ocean has a bounty! How about I fetch us something to roast?" 

"You're just gonna jump in and get something?" Sidon chuckled and shrugged. 

"I'll do my best, at the very least." Link shook the sleepy look from her eyes and nodded. 

"Just don't be gone long!" He stood up to face the dark blue sea, its splendor appeared to him like a desert of black, undulating sands. 

"Time me, I'll surprise you!" With a wink and a smile, his arm fins flared as he dived into the darkness of the evening ocean. Even with proper low-light vision was he having trouble differentiating creatures from flowing plant life. The further he traveled out, the more fish he was coming upon, nearest the cliffs of the coastal town. What some would consider dangerous, rocky spires peeking out to skewer any that fall from the tall precipice above, the very same precipice that held the unlit lighthouse of Hateno meant very little to the prince as he deftly maneuvered the sloshing waters. It made sense that this place was partly known for being a fishing village, as schools upon schools of recognizable oceanic life’s scales were shimmering in groups, disappearing into the void of an oceanic dropoff. His anxieties crept up his back, it sent a chill through him to think of what might lie in those murky depths. How many sailors have had the sea floor made their beds by Nayru's wrathful storms? How many ships lie broken on the bottom of the ocean, failed voyages from parts unknown? He shot with the grace of a swordfish, and took a sizeable bounty of several sea bass, and a few razorclaw crabs he spotted on the way back, the darkness of the ocean threatening to swallow him his vision entirely as he returned, yet from under the water he could just make out the flickering campfire on the shore. 

Climbing his way from the ocean, its pitch dark waters nipping at his back as he walked, he approached the fire with food in tow.

"Two minutes!" She chirped happily.

"Bah, I'll do better next time, hm?" 

Sidon placed the squirming fish and crabs on the small wood pile beside him, and intended to use the sharper sticks to skewer them to roast. 

"How do you see down there? It looks so dark." Sidon picked up a razorclaw crab, its pincers tried their hardest to grasp the prince with vicious intent. 

"Low light vision! My saltwater Zora ancestors are speculated to have lived underwater, so they evolved to see in the night." He leaned forward, seawater dripping onto his legs. "Come to think of it, how do you hear the footfalls of someone so far away? Could it be those adorable ears of yours?" Link answered his question with a knowing smile, and a cute flick of her right ear. Sidons gaze moved from the girl, to the Hylian sea bass at his feet. Fleeting mental images of proposing to Link flew aimlessly in his mind. It wouldn't be hard, but would she even understand what he was doing? Hylian marriages are often proposed with a ring, but Zora proposals include presenting a fish, reciting a short poem, followed by the two lovers letting the fish back into the waters. She'd know what his proposal entails. It would entail making Link his princess. Oh, to call her his princess. How lovely that would be. 

_Ah, what are you thinking, Sidon? Why did you let Kayden put this idea in your head? Why should you subject her to such an intense decision so early on? You've barely begun to court her, slow d-_

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow." The razorclaw crab successfully pinched Sidon's left flap that hung from his head-fin, and stayed there like a tasteless piece of jewellery.

"Oh, are you okay?!" Sidon swung the appendage over to where she could see it, the crab struggling to pincer his chin with another claw. He moved his hand to remove the little cretin with a playfully exhausted expression on his face.

"They don't call them razorclaws for nothing, I suppose." Link held barely stifled laughter from behind her hand, watching him with an amused and surprised look as he unhooked the claw from his head-fin. "You're getting eaten first, you miscreant." Link rocked her head back and laughed at the princes expense, and he chuckled as he skewered the pest. “If what i’ve been told is correct, a lot of saltwater fish can be eaten without seasoning. We’ll put that to the test. If its too much, we can eat something else.” He began nestling the sticks in the sand, their tips hanging over the open flame that roared in intensity. Link rested her back against the ground, her hands acting as a pillow as she stared at the sky above. The stars had begun to show themselves among the darkened skyline. It reminded Sidon of the sleepless nights spent staring at his ceiling, how the little flecks of silver would sparkle and shimmer in the light of the dimming luminous stone by his bedside. 

No. In fact, this was much more beautiful than that. His bedroom ceiling reminded him of what the stars _might_ look like, merely a dream to keep his spirits high as the blanket of rain kept the possibility of seeing what they truly are from him. This, however, in all its scope and splendor, dazzled him in ways he couldn’t have possibly predicted. His eyes searched the grid of twinkling dots.

“There!" He said wondrously, outstretching his hand to point starward. 

“What am I looking for?” She asked in an inquisitive tone, slowly scooting her head toward the prince to follow his finger. 

“It’s Farore’s olive branch. See? It’s supposed to look like a twig with an olive hanging off of it. There's the branch, and there's the olive!" He expected her to be impressed, but she hummed disappointedly. 

“I don’t see it.” He chuckled, his eyes scanning the infinite array of stars for another familiar shape. 

“Perhaps the people who discovered it had overactive imaginations, because I really don’t either. Let’s find another.” After a few seconds of searching, his mind connected the dots to another constellation, a stalwart soldier with sword and shield in hand. “There! Ah, I forget what it’s called...” 

It hit him like a lightning arrow.

_Ah, that’s right. That constellation represents Link._

“That’s supposed to be, well, your spirit.” 

“W-what?” She asked unbelievingly. 

“Supposedly, that’s your spirit standing tall to watch over the world.” She squirmed uncomfortably in her spot. It was very possible that this incarnation of Link was the very first to know of her situation, being a sort of mythological creature, a piece of divinity that was detected only from millenia of study.

“What’s it called?” She asked, her voice was quiet and nervous, as if she had to cringe to wait for an answer she didn’t want to hear. Sidon pressed his lips firmly together.

“Tsk, I can’t say I remember.” Link exhaled in relief to herself. 

This was a lie. In truth, it’s name was _the boy who watches the light._ Such a name would tear her spirit in half.

“Well,” She stated optimistically, studying the sky above. “Now that means we have to find you.” 

Sidon smiled brightly, and looked over at the girl in surprise.

“Oh, come!” Was all he could say, his face flushed.

“No, if I have to be stuck up there, so do you!” 

In all honesty, being stuck among the stars with Link did not sound like a bad thing at all. 

“Let’s see...that kind of looks like my head.” She strained her eyes, trying to find where he was pointing. She gave up with a defeated huff, and a bundle of her amused giggling filled the air.

“It just looks like stars!”

“It’s fitting! See, there's my head’s tail fin, and th-” 

“No!” She laughed loudly. “I don’t see it!” 

“Pfft, neither do I!” She sniffled, and wiped tears of joy from her cheeks. 

“Well, you’re up there anyway.” He heard the sound of her head shifting to him, and he looked to see her staring at him with those eyes, the skin around them puffy and red from laughing so hard. He swore that every time he looked at her, it was like looking at her for the first time all over again. “What do we call you, Sidon?” 

“Hmm.” He mused aloud. “Handsome.”

“You want future historians to call your constellation ‘handsome’?” He gave the girl a confident, cheeky smile. 

“Would you protest?” She fought a contagious smile, but it broke just as quickly.

“No, I wouldn’t.” She said quietly, a dreamy tone carried her voice.

“Here,” He supported his laying body with an elbow, and offered a stick that held the crab who bested him in combat. She took the gift, yet, looked at the crab as if it were a puzzle.

“How am I supposed to...?”

“Eat it? Here, let me show you.” He plucked a leg from one of the crabs, and snapped it in half. “You eat the meat inside the legs.” She strained to snap a leg in twain, and was surprised when it finally cracked apart. The two took bites of the meat, and Sidon felt just a bit disappointed. 

“My father told me of how seafood was salty, and it didn’t need to be seasoned. I’m beginning to believe he was lying to me.”

“Oh, no!” She giggled, sympathetically studying his disappointed face. “You look so sad! I think it’s really good!” He rocked his jaw in thought, and set the skewer in the sand, reaching for the Hylian sea bass that was evenly charred throughout. Picking the part he could eat from the skin was a fairly daunting task, but after that, he was greeted with buttery, fatty, decadent meat.

“Ah, that's much better.”

“Do you want the fish? I like the crab a lot.” She said happily, snapping another burnt crab leg in half. "It's not crab cakes, but it's great."

"Only if you're sure. This fish may not be your curry, but I like it all the same." She smiled as she chewed on the steaming crab meat.

"You really love curry, don't you?" 

"I love _your_ curry. I told you, I would eat it every day if I could. But only if you make it, nothing else will do." She blushed, and set her stick back in the sand. 

"That can be arranged." She cooed smugly. It appeared she didn't know how serious he really was. 

"I'll do it! I'll pay any amount of rupees to get trade posts to bring us all of the ingredients every single day, _just_ so I can eat curry by your side every night." The girl blushed with a smile hidden by her hand. His heart screamed at him, berated him for the absolute ache he felt for toying with such a notion. Goddess, he couldn't shake that feeling, that desire to tell her he wanted to be with her until time weaved every fabric of their lives apart. He'd eat her curry, take any amount of arrows at his back, fight any number of Ganons just to make it so.

"Hey," she began, her eyes drifting skyward, the stars shined their brightest in the pitch dark of night. "I think I know what your constellation should be called." Sidon cleared his throat, and attempted to do the same with his mind. 

"What's that, my love?"

"Your dad said you inherited Mipha's graces earlier, so…" She looked at him with sparkling eyes. "I think it should be called Mipha's grace."

She pushed the door to her room open, the night of Hateno let filtered torchlight peek through her dusty, clouded windows, but Sidon needed little visibility for what he had planned. The prince slammed the door behind him and pushed her onto her bed, her hair splayed in every direction, and her cheeks bright red as he put his arms on either side of her, and kissed her like he was diving into the sea. 

"I love you so much, Link." He said through hot breaths, her heart was beating so hard he could feel it threatening to burst from her chest against his own. "I love you, so very dearly."

"I love _you_ , Sidon." She spoke in that breathy, androgynous timbre that melted him, quickened his pulse, made him feel as though his legs and arms would wobble and give out underneath him. He pulled apart from her quickly, and spoke with haste, as not kissing her, not tasting her was like being starved of air. 

"From the moment I met you, I knew you were special. Not some pedestal for prophecy, not the hero of Hyrule, no I knew you were special because you couldn’t go five minutes without proving how selfless you are, and by the goddess above I fell so very deeply for you." His lips met with hers again, and the two grunted from how overwhelming their elation felt. Her arms moved upward and snaked around his neck, her hands grasping him with her nails digging into his skin. He pulled his mouth back only to speak as frantically and passionately as ever, not fearing the volume of his voice. "I don't ever want to be apart from that. Ever. Link, please, I want you to be my-"

The two were shaken by murderous screams outside Link’s abode, and Link's sparkling, blushed expression most befitting of a painting, melted into one of fear and worry. This high pitch scream was like a splintered stake through Sidon’s heart, like freezing water dumped on his body. The two locked eyes, Link’s panting was all he could comprehend before she shot up to the door.

Link poked her head out of her rickety door, only to bring it back just as quickly to grab her bag, and furiously fish for her matte black sword hilt.

“What? Link, what’s going on?” She spoke with her back to him, already halfway out the door with the unsheathed sword in her white-knuckled hand. 

"Company!" Was all she could yell, and the door behind her was left ajar. The peculiar sounds of bokoblins bursting apart into dust popped over and over, and from his stupor, the prince drew his sword with such scorn, such teeth grinding anger as he pushed the door with an elbow, and witnessed how large scaled this invasion was. Villagers with torches locked their doors behind them, and waved their flames fearfully toward droves of pelted bokoblin standing in jumbled lines. The town's pitchforks and lumber axes acted as defensive weapons of little effect for men and women who stood outside their homes to guard their families. Lining the back of this grouped assault were two frighteningly furious Moblins, their long faces bared snarling teeth like frothing dogs, eyes bulging and searching the ground below, and they held over their shoulders bloodied clubs as they scanned the area for something to smash. 

Or, perhaps, someone.

If there was any doubt the sudden swarm of bokoblin earlier was the work of Ganon, those theories were justly cemented into fact. The very essence of Ganon had to know its control over the Divine Beasts was weakening, as there was no other reason for such a spontaneous invasion. There was very little time to think, very little time to react as droves upon droves of the rudimentary squadron began wreaking havoc on homes, bashing and stabbing anything that could be broken. But, for the most part, these fiends targeted Link, they piled over one another to reach her, but as they did, they were just as swiftly ripped to shreds by the Hylians blade with naught but their teeth and horns left behind. 

Sidon took courageous strides toward the two Moblins as their sights locked on their target, their blood stained clubs were grasped with intent to swing. He wasn't exactly their size, but he was the only one who could stand a chance against such intimidating strength. Sidon searched the ground with darting eyes, and lifted a pebble from the ground, hurling it at the head of one of the assailants. 

"Come here, brutes!" He bellowed, his commanding voice called them like pungent bait. His stance firmed, feet dug firmly into the soil. He was no stranger to combat, but to face something so monstrous was a different task indeed. Their eyes zeroed in on him, shaking like leaves from the maddening purple smoke that exuded from their growling maws. These Moblins acted like no mere puppets, as their movements were decisive, and their teeth that shined in torchlit night were bared as if they had full control as predators. 

It mattered not, the prince would puncture them and watch the smoke erupt from their bodies all the same, just as he did to protect his domain, just as he would to protect Link.

A step back, a draw of the blade vertically at eye level, and a deadly lunge forward drove his mothers spotless blade into the chest of the Moblin on his right, like a choreographed dance that he'd practiced ad nauseum, countless hours spent among the Zora barracks provided him with ample skill to dance among the ruthless beasts. With a recoiling whimper, the snarling monster reared back with its life essence puffing and pouring from it. The Moblin to his left prepared his club, more akin to a small tree trunk than a true weapon, and Sidon barely had any time to duck his head to avoid a severe, singular strike that came with a beastly grunt from the assailant. It stumbled and struggled to fight against centrifugal force, the club's staggering weight nearly knocking it off its feet. An opportune time for attack arose, a moment where its chest stood open like a waiting fish, and the prince's dancing blade made it his prey. Digging it deeper, the blade slid its body toward the hilt, and Sidon bared his teeth like a rabid animal in pure disdain for such a creature, looking into its rolling eyes. It cried out in anguish and frustration, it's hands searched aimlessly for its dropped club, but Sidon could only stare, only drive this blade further.

_How dare you, you beast? You cursed thing._

He took a step forward.

_How dare you set your weapon upon this girl?_

Another step.

 **_You, Ganon_ ** _._

_You are not fit to look in her direction._

Sidon could not see it as any animal, no, this thing came by Ganon's order, by demands from the unknowable and unfathomable evil that could do nothing but obliterate everything in its path. This thing was merely its puppet. The creature cried out, it roared with tearing vocal chords, and Sidon silenced it with an unceremonious shoulder barge to the ground, off him so it could no longer sully his blade.

He wasn't fully prepared for the Moblin on his right, still clinging to life with blackened smoke shooting from its open wound as it chanced an overhead swing on him. A clumsy fall backward kept his life intact, yet the sword he held was knocked aside, and his fingers were nearly pulverized from the strike that ended the life of the Moblin laying upon the dirt road. 

The prince pushed himself up, his anger reached its pinnacle, his hand grabbed the things wrist from further blows and tackled it to the ground. With his fingers at its throat, Sidon pummeled the creature with a clenched fist until it was no more, its horn broken in half and the prince's fist pressed against the dirt below.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

The light weight of the ancient blade helped the girl make quick work of the swarming attackers, the armies' stragglers stood swinging their clubs against homes and fences, farm animals and home-owning Hylians, but nothing about this looked hopeless, as their numbers were soon diminished to nothing. She could see Sidon picking his blade up from the ground and scanning the village in low light, as their torches were either destroyed, or used as improvised weapons against the bokoblin swarm. His gaze caught the blue blade's aura, and he rushed to her aid, fell to his knees to assure her safety. 

Nothing about what had just happened could assure safety for anyone.

"You’re okay, yes?" He spoke quickly, looking her up and down with his brow furrowed in worry.

"I'm okay." She huffed, her blade was pressed with her thumb, sheathed and held with an anxious grip. "I don't think this is gonna stop, Sidon. I think..." She hesitated, noting as her words struck a chord of finality within the prince, a grim realization washed over the two as the sounds of injured villagers rushing to each others aid surrounded them.

"Are you implying we…" She gulped, and nodded. "N...now?" Sidons worried look and firm grasp only tightened as she nodded again, shrugging in defeat.

"It's not gonna stop, prince. You saw them. They went right for me." Sidon spoke sternly, with no optimism, yet with no pessimism either. These words were only stated from the mouth of a man with no other options, yet his expression told her he’d rather anyone else face this task but the two of them.

"If you're ready, I am too, Link." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO I MISSED WRITING PURE FLUFF AAAAA I LOVED WRITING THIS CHAPTER


	35. Beasts Built to Unmake Ganon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regardless of if they're ready or not, they have to take action to ensure the Calamity doesn't rear its frenzied head and take with it the rest of Hyrule, but is Ganon the only one that lies in wait at the derelict castle?

“You don’t have to come with me.” Sidon furrowed, his face confused and nearly upset.

“Of course I do. You’re not going to face this beast alone, not like you’ve had to in your past lives. I will not let you do this alone.” 

“I don’t…” She put her palms up to her cheeks, and pushed in frustration, the feeling of hot tears peeking from the corners of her eyes. “I can’t make you do this, prince, I can’t. You don’t deserve this.”

Sidon spoke sternly.

“Link! Stop that, please! Are you to bar me from slaying the beast that murdered my sister? From protecting you from the same fate?! How in the realm do you think that’s fair?” 

Link’s eyes darted from his gaze, and wandered over to his right hand, it’s knuckles were scratched and bloodied. She took the wounded hand in her own, and he didn’t think to stop her; he simply watched as she kissed the knuckle, warm with recent friction. 

“I’ve had worse.” He stated grimly.

“You have to promise me.”

“Hm?” 

She looked up at him, meeting his snake-like irises dilated in the low light. 

“You have to promise me you wont do anything out there without thinking about yourself. We have to get out of this alive. Together.” Sidon’s voice lowered to a near-whisper.

“I have a future with you.” He gulped, dry mouthed and shaking with frayed nerves. “In this realm. You and I. I will not risk your life or mine if I can help it.” 

Link grunted, and narrowed her gaze.

“Just promise me. Just...please, say you promise.” Sidon chuckled, defeated, and rested his hand on the hilt of his rapier.

“I promise.” 

She drew a stressed breath, and let his hand free. 

Running to grab her bag, the Hylian emerged and shut her door behind her, strapping everything she needed on her person. “We plan to go to Ruta, yes?” He asked, following beside her as she made her way to Hateno’s shrine. 

“Mhm.” the two walked hastily down the dirt road, littered with splintered posts and poorly made weaponry. Link felt a hollow guilt, regret for not informing the villagers of Hateno of what had just occurred and why, but just staying there was further putting them in peril. She heard them, the dazed townsfolk speaking reassuring words to each other, confused as to what was going on.

“And...we plan to...ride it into Hyrule castle?” 

Link saw no other reason to not do so.

“That seems like the best option we have.” 

“Due to today's events, I fear that this village is not the only place that’s seen heightened activity. We must be careful.” The two stepped atop the shrine's elevator platform, and Link’s stomach dropped and flipped as they were shot downward. Ears at full attention, and palms sweating due to rising nerves that threatened to reach a boiling point, the Shiekah temple was quiet as ever as it reverberating her troubled, swimming thoughts.

She could tell he wanted to say something, say  _ anything  _ to make this better or less stressful, but extinguishing flared nerves could not be done in the face of such a task. In truth, if felt like they were ushering themselves into their own executions. She pressed her finger against the Kakariko shrine's orange dot in the staticky room, and after they were transported to Impa village, she noticed the icon that sat directly in the centre, where Hyrule castle once stood.

“Link, it’s…” Sidon's voice was surprised and appalled as he pointed to the red dot. 

“It’s completely red now.” She mumbled, a shiver crept up her spine. No longer was it flashing from orange to vibrant red, it stood out painfully among the rest of the map, lighting Link's front like a fire. She could only imagine what Hyrule castle now looked like from the outside. "Come on, we have to move." 

It was deathly quiet, the occupied homes of Impa village were alone and nestled in their beds, leaving Link with a sour idea of what her presence could do to ruin such a peaceful night. As they passed such quiet underground streets, they spotted Mona and Paya, walking along an adjacent road.

"Paya!" Link whisper yelled, keeping her fervent pace and gesturing for the girl to follow. 

"What is it?" She said, her dark brown eyes furrowed in worry. "What has you two so troubled?" 

"How many of Kakariko's residents know how to fight?" The odd question befuddled the poor girl, and she scoffed as the thought struggled to be comprehended.

"V-v-very few. What has happened? Why do you walk so quickly?" 

"We're going to destroy Ganon." Sidon said sternly.

"Now?!" Mona asked, and she studied the two as if they've gone mad. Link had very little time to explain the situation, so continued as if they understood. 

"Get your sword, Paya. Get everyone that can fight, and stand guard. All night if you have to. Ganon knows where I am, and it's sending everything it's got." 

"I...I-I'll…" Mona put an assuring hand on the girl's shoulder. 

"We'll do what we can." Paya nodded firmly. 

"W-w-what should we e-expect?" 

"Bokoblins. Maybe Moblins. Arm everyone. Hateno was just invaded." The four came up and over the long but finite stairwell, into the equally deathly quiet Kakariko. “Kakariko probably will be too. I’m...I’m so sorry.”

Something felt...off. The balance of heat and cold fought for dominance in the air, the smell of the usually pleasant village was overcome by an unusual bitter odor. "The longer I stay here, the worse it will get." The two looked at the heroes of Hyrule as if they were stumbling for some kind of clarity. 

"Prince Sidon, be careful." Mona said worriedly, to which the prince responded with little but a nervous shrug, and unsure words.

“I’m not sure if being careful is an option here, but, I will try.” 

With a quiet and nervous “goodbye” from the silver haired Shiekah and freckled blue Zora, the two could only watch as Link and Sidon made their way through the canyon path Vah Ruta rested in, waiting for their return. Link turned around before they rounded the corner to get one last look at the lantern lit town, and envisioned it in ruin, fire spreading chaos among their wooden homes. She'd never forgive herself if such a beautiful place was demolished due to her own nearsightedness.

She then remembered, how unimaginably skilled Paya is in battle. This did little to quell her nerves, though, as the pacifism of Kakariko left the rest of the village at a grim disadvantage. 

The two came upon their resting companion, the steed to ride them into the jaws of Ganon's domain. 

“Hello, friend.” Sidon said solemnly to the best, and its life essence lit up brightly in the night. It was then, after they boarded Ruta and looked outward the front aperture toward Hyrule Castle that they saw just how apocalyptic it had gotten since they were gone. A black, smoking bubble had enveloped the once proud standing castle, and from the skies above it formed clouds, blacker than the night sky spreading across the realm like spilled tar. It was oddly quiet for such a hectic and violent scene.

“It’s…Oh, my.” Sidon gasped, his hand rested over his mouth in sheer terror. “It’s a second calamity.”

Everything looked terrifyingly familiar like a memory was trying to worm its way into her mind, red rods of lightning began sparking and stabbing their way through the air nearest the castle. Ganon’s power now returned to it, as defeating the cancerous creatures who inhabited the Divine Beasts led it to enact a full assault, a horrific menagerie of flowing and fluttering orbs swarmed around the bubbled castle like flies. It only got worse as she looked, only grew more incomprehensible the more she tried to make sense of it.

“We can't get in that way.” Sidon turned one-eighty degrees to face her, and with wide eyes, he offered a solution. 

“We have to use the room.” Suddenly, the floor beneath them shifted, and Ruta began lifting itself from the ground, grunting and grinding like an awakened titan. “Ruta, what are you doing?” He pressed his hand against the wall, and scoffed nervously when it did nothing to obey his command. “Ruta!” It did not listen, it only began to walk across the wetlands with its trunk pointed at the domain. "Ruta, are you well? Please do not tell me you're being possessed once again!" The Hylian looked around the room for the tell-tale signs of Ganon's control, and felt a vibration on her hip.

The Shiekah slate was already opened on the map, and over the large lookout near the east reservoir was a blinking icon. 

"Sidon, its taking us near the East Reservoir!" Sidon whipped his head around, and looked on her in horror, before knocking against Ruta's walls. 

"Please, do not plague my domain again, Ruta!"

"No, its taking us to point its canons!" The prince looked up quizzically at the beast, and huffed a sigh of relief as it roared an affirming trumpeted squeal.

Sidon took a nervous step back, and wandered over to the front of Vah Ruta, to sit near its aperture and watch as chaos spread in a brooding cloud. Link's heartstrings tightened and twisted. She sat next to him soundlessly, and he gave her a quick, fake smile, and wrapped an arm around her side.

"Do you remember the Calamity?" The prince leaned against the wall, watching as Ruta stomped among the trees. It cared not to knock them down due to how precious time truly was.

"Quite clearly. You haven't recalled it, have you?" 

Link shook her head, feeling a strange guilt as if she should, as if it would be more fair for her to know this horror twice. "I hope you never have to. I spent that morning watching the more adventurous few of my people dying by lightning strikes, trying to leave the domain. I was ushered into the storage room and told not to come out until it was safe. I kept wandering out, asking where Mipha was. Nobody would answer me." Sidon pulled his knees close to him, and let go of a shuddering sigh. "I didn't know until the day later that she had died before I even began to question where she was." 

There was a moment of complete silence, as Link was unable to really know how to comfort such pain. From her memory of the calamity, she remembered that old village she fought in as it was plundered by guardians, but not much else. All she really could do was feel this pain second-hand, and lean up against him in hopes that physical contact would ground him in some way. 

"It was a lot like this. Except it was raining. At least, in the domain. A few Zora were outside of Lanyru when the Calamity happened, but...we assumed they either died during the initial battles against the guardians, or perhaps they lived fulfilling lives. I can only hope the latter is true." 

Ruta began to scale the East Reservoir, with little thought to the two's well being. The beast shifted upward, and Link began to slide along with everything else they owned towards the back of the room. Before she was out of his reach, the prince grasped tightly onto her with his right hand gripped onto the opening of the aperture. 

"It's okay. I have you." The elephant beast shifted and rattled as it climbed, and Sidon pulled the small Hylian close to his side. It was then that the black clouds swirling above reached their location, and with it, came bitterly cold rain and wind.

Link could see it in his expression, the first downpour he'd experienced since they tamed Vah Ruta obviously brought back horrible memories. If she'd have had it her way, Link would be one holding him, caressing his crest and speaking sweet words to calm him down. This was no place for caressing, or soft volumes, as the wind howled, and among the white noise of the dirty watered rain she could hear him mutter nervously to himself, darting his eyes around what he could see of his domain. 

"We're going to be okay, Sidon!" She yelled through the foul breathed wind, mixtures of hot and cold air beat against her face, and to think this hectic weather was all the way in Lanyru. How badly did the ones in Hyrule Field have it? How were the cobbled together horse stables littered around the realm holding up in such intense winds? 

Sidon stood to his feet as Ruta nestled itself in the rock and shot its tracer beam to Hyrule castle. There was not a moment's hesitation as he jumped down, and motioned for her to climb atop him so they could jettison down the East Reservoir.

Rounding the side of the Great Corridor, Sidon pressed his lips to his whistle, and blew so loudly in a specific sequence that it pierced and echoed through the bowl-shaped domain. 

Almost immediately, one by one their homes lining the Great Corridor began lighting up with luminous stone light, and stumbling Zora knights left their rooms from the long hall, standing rigid, some still affixing plates of silvery armor to their bodies. Despite being at attention, these knights looked physically unnerved by the rain as well, just as Sidon was. The prince inhaled deeply, collecting what he could of his troubled nerves. 

"Tonight, we act as though the rain never ceased! All of you, everyone is on guard!" 

"Prince Sidon!" A black Zora with a sharply spoken proper voice stood forward. He was slender and tall, one of the only knights with a strange piece of silver headgear, holding a crescent headed silverscale spear that stood apart from all the other armaments.

"Has something occurred? You make it sound as though the Calamity has struck again!" The prince's momentary lack of response seemed to tell them enough, as nervous gasps were passed around the line of defense. The wind and rain pushed through the domain, haunting whistles like screaming keese were carried through the violent gusts. Sidon spoke up with a stern, deadly serious voice.

"There's a difference now, Bazz! This time, we have on our side the beasts built to unmake Ganon, the ire of all corners of Hyrule has been provoked, and now we mean to end the beast in its lair!" The group looked bemused, as much as stone faced knights struggling to keep respectful stances in the face of royalty could. "This will not come without resistance! You will be fighting tonight! If you must, provide everyone with reserve arms!" 

"You're going to Hyrule castle?" The commander asked with uncontained nervousness. A slight shift in his stance and an impatient nod from the prince showed his fear like cracks in porcelain.

"I am. You need not fear for me, none of you. That being said, we must be moving, come, if you must. We must make haste!” He motioned for the army to step aside for he and his companion, and Sidon looked down on her for a moment, and put his hand on her shoulder. “I have the hero of the domain by my side, I have the strength and resolve of an army at my back! All of you, consider this Ganon's Calamity, for come daybreak, it will be no more!" The rallying cry of the standing Zora army cut through the powerful winds. “Bazz, stand by my father's throne, keep an eye on everyone stationed. Spread them evenly, do  _ not  _ leave the domain.”

“Understood, my liege.” Bazz was seen holding an arm out, and stopping the group of armed Zora in their tracks with a whistle of his own. Sidon continued a steady pace, his silver sash adored with the sign of the Zora people rose and fell against his body as he walked, his rapier at his side jingled and clanked to the rhythm of his purpose-filled steps.

“Have you seen what it looks like, Link?” Sidon asked, faintly audible in the pouring rain. It was almost too cold to stand it, the fierce winds broke raindrops against Link’s skin like needles. She held her arms close to her body, crossed and hoping she wouldn’t get too soaked.

“Not up close.” Sidon nervously glanced at her as they stepped off of the Great Zora bridge, and turned heel toward the glowing orange temple, like a beacon in the hazy rain.

“Old Hylian culture describes it as a pig beast. Gerudo folklore claims a voe born in their race was an incarnation. Given how it's controlling everything now, I would consider both of those things to be unlikely this time around.”

It was hardly the time to think of it, but why did Ganon get the option to choose how to reincarnate, and not her? Sidon spoke up politely,almost sarcastically given the circumstances. “Sorry about the history lesson.” 

“And I fought every one?” A small, sad smile curled Sidons lips. 

“If prophecy is indeed no hoax, you smited every one of them. Otherwise, we would not be here.” She remained silent, her worries had her gagged and wordless. “On the other side of this coin, we could also say that if you smited all of them, how could the outcome of this one be any different?” Her eyes focused on the slippery mud beneath her, the traction of her boots were being tested thoroughly. 

“I know you want to make me feel better, but…” She trailed off, the volume of her voice was clearly not loud enough to reach him as they passed the violently windswept trees.

“Forgive me. I...feel as though I make myself feel better by soothing you, but, I do know that this is no time to feel at ease.”

Sidon and Link had finally reached the lift, and the sound of pouring rain and rushing wind disappeared in a split second as they began their descent.

“I’m sorry.” She huffed, running a hand through her wet hair, and clenching tightly the sword handle in her palm. “Tell me. Tell me why this will be okay, Sidon. I think I need to hear that right now.” He almost took her sentence as sarcastic, but quickly stood rigid and scanned his golden eyes around the lift for something to say.

Seconds passed, and he still stood silently in thought.

The lift slowly fluttered to the temple floor, the two quickly realized something was wrong, and the prince was cut short of his musings. The veiny circuitry, the glowing blue lights that normally plastered the walls were gone, leaving no light; an empty, vast temple lay before them. Link searched with her hand, and found Sidon’s arm, gripping like she was in a nightmare. 

“The room,” He whispered through his teeth like his words would wake a sleeping lynel if he wasn't careful, “It’s still illuminated.” Across the hall, the bedroom-sized room cast red and white light, barely illuminating the side of the sitting Shiekah mummy it faced. 

Link activated her sword's blade, and the faint glow was just enough to cast light on the ground ahead. She took a step forward, beginning a slow pace with Sidon just a bit behind, the two tethered by the Hylian's grasp on him. It was so intensely quiet that she could hear the dripping of her hair on the ground accompanied by the squelching of her wet boots. She craned her head along with Sidon, and relaxed to see the room unchanged, save for the glowing and blinking panel flashing with warnings in a dead language. She could barely fathom how quickly this apocalyptic scenario had swept over Hyrule, how it instantly rocked the foundations of the realm and forced the four corners to bear hackles still wounded from one hundred years prior, how it without a moment's hesitation affected the normally perfectly functional Shiekah equipment, it's ethereal blue power pulled from it like a loose rug. Is this how fast the Calamity happened all those years ago? In the blink of an eye?

The coils running along the walls were warm, vibrating and humming anxiously with jittery circuitry bent to a point of near-collapse. Sidon passed through the warning screens on the room's console, shaking his head in frustration. 

"I can't understand ancient Shiekah," he muttered to the console. "I apologize. Could I perhaps get something in Hylian? Come, I even know a bit of Gerudo, too." He was biting the inside of his cheek as he swiped error after error, and finally, the map was revealed to them, all shrines glowing with bright red light, save for the one they stood in which was still flickering between orange and red. This only further cemented how short on time they were, the Shiekah tech was  _ begging _ them to use this one room, this last resort for transport, as if it were struggling to hold the last door open for them. Before he could move forward and press that button, the prince took a knee to Link, who's eyes still fixated on the panel in front of her. His words were laced with fear, a voice she hadn't heard since his stumbling, nervous voice when he found her bruised body in Hebra. 

"Now listen, my love." Her eyes met with his; a worried, but optimistic expression was etched on his face. "No matter what happens in there, I am beside you. You and I can bear this burden, the two of us, and cry victory on the other side.  _ I…"  _ The prince began to choke up, and squinted his eyes shut as he held a knuckle to his lips. “It may be daunting, it may be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do in your life. But you will  _ not _ be alone _ , for you have me, forever and always."  _ He grasped her left wrist, and with a kiss to the back of her hand, she began to lose herself to tears. Gracefully, Sidon accepted her arms around his neck, and her muted sobs on the side of his head.

He was there to comfort her every single step of the way. He read her books, called her beautiful, iced her wounds, witnessed the realm with fresh eyes alongside her, risked his  _ life  _ for her. He was her knight, her best friend. Goddess, he knew full well she didn't want to go through with this, she didn't want to put either of their lives on the line. She could feel his quickened pulse from their faces pressed tightly against one another.

"Your heart is beating so quickly." She sniffled out. No, he couldn't defeat Ganon in her place, but he sat to one knee and told her that despite everything, all of this apocalyptic nonsense, that they would be okay. 

“I’m not at all surprised." She pulled apart from him, and wiped her cheek with a thumb, his fingers cupping her face. “It’s hard to be calm during a time like this, but...you usually get my heart to raise its tempo, in one way or another.” 

"C'mon lets get this over with, I wanna go to bed." 

Sidon chuckled, and pushed his lips together to keep himself from smiling.

“See, you  _ are _ good with words! I couldn’t have said it better myself.” The beams that coiled the room shook loosely against the walls, and the panel itself flickered as if it was undergoing its final death throes. He stumbled to his feet, and looked to her as he hunched his body over the panel.

“Do it!” 

Nervously yelling along with the popping and sparking rooms volume, Sidon pressed his finger to the glitching panel over and over, as it faded and let out high pitched mechanical wails like rusted metal sliding against copper wire. Link clenched her eyes closed in fear, as being stuck in this place was a phobia beginning to creep its way into her mind. This derelict temple, if left with no power and a coming apocalypse, would act as an oversized grave if this were to fail, and they would be no better than the mummy who called this place their home, and the realm above would be subject to only more ruin. Sidon roared and hit the panel in frustration, yelling incoherently.

“Come on you-” His words cut with a yelp, and Link unscrewed her tightly shut eyes. Immediately she was hit by a horrid stench, a hostile musky odor of rotted plant life and pungent organic decay. She could see little but the prince ahead of her, hunched and coughing.

"Are you - _ cough!-  _ alright, Link?" His head turned to her direction, golden irises shimmering in the low light of the erroneous console. 

"I'm okay." She mumbled nervously, finding her bearings and unsheathing the glowing sword at her hip, holding it at eye level like one would with a flaming torch. "I think I'm okay. What is that smell?" 

"Something once alive, I can only guess. The ground is so  _ cold _ ." His speech reverberated so very close to them, as if the walls were closed off completely. Bearing this in mind, she searched the coiled walls for an exit, one similar to the few they'd seen before in the various transportation rooms. 

"C'mon, they all have one. Where's the door?" Sidon followed the sound of her voice, and the glowing light that cast blue rays over the grimy walls. It was covered in... _ something _ . Something black, something caked on the walls that glistened like molasses. 

"Here- oh dear, what in the realm is that?" Sidon whisper-yelled in a tone absolutely repulsed, pointing to a door shaped mass of black, undulating goop, stuck together in ribbons like loose strands of sinew and flesh. It disturbingly throbbed in a rhythm, like a heartbeat was pumping viscous sludge through its veins.

Link poked the tip of the toothed sword to its mass, and it twitched like it had been tickled. She herself repeated such a motion, with a nervous shiver creeping up her back.

"It's gross." She said plainly, her stomach churning as she held her sleeve over her face. She could swear it made a noise; a low, thrumming sound like thick straw sucking viscous liquid. Her mouth began to dry out, and her palms broke out in a cold sweat.

"Well, we've made it, this is no doubt something Ganon would do. I think we know where to go now, though." He squinted, and with a few nervous steps he studied the wall with eyes too curious for his own good.

"Stand back," she warned sternly, holding an arm out, and readying her stance to take the wall down like thick brush. 

Consecutive swings tore strips of onyx shaded goop to the floor, hitting the ground in wet slaps and revealing from the wounds a greenish, putrid light beyond.

To say it was like the bowels of Ganon's lair was an understatement. This tightly packed room had an ominous light-deprived staircase leading up to apparent nothingness. Dreadful muck clung to scraps of unidentifiable dome shaped Shiekah machinations on the ground scattered around the dire temple, who's walls bore webbed coats of colorless black web strung from corner to corner at random, undulating and pulsing together in grisly harmony. This was once a peaceful looking temple, that much she was sure of, bearing unpowered Shiekah circuitry and high ceilings characteristic of subdued, yet stunning beauty, but it had been subjected to one hundred years of evil infestation. The main source of the bright light in this tightly packed temple, rather than the rays of familiar blue circuits, was a massive ball in the middle of the room about the size of the console back in Ruta. The tar-like goop was surrounding this sphere, dripping and originating from a gigantic stringy formation of the substance connecting from the ceiling, as if it all coalesced above to rain hatred upon the smoking, bubbling ball below. Even these dense, thick globs of muck that seemed to suck any light that shone on them were victim to such a bright source of light in the middle of the sphere that it lit the room like a giant paper lantern with muddied green hues. 

Sidon watched his step, trying and failing to get past the knee high scraps of dirty metal, heavy as they were and stuck to the ground below. 

"I'm quite nervous to disturb anything around here.” He pointed his head toward the massive bubble in the center of the room. “What  _ is  _ that...creature? What would you even  _ call  _ that?" Link walked up to a small, rectangle shaped hunk protruding from the ground and gave it a quick push with her foot. It wouldn't budge.

"I don't think it knows we're here, Sidon." She had the bright idea to reach to her hip, fetching the Shiekah slate and giving it a firm shake to glean  _ any  _ insight into their location or situation. It's connection to this place must have some knowledge they weren't privy to. The map's interface, full of blue and orange dots of varying landmarks was unchanged, but only for a moment, before it shut off entirely. "What the…" She smacked the side of the slate against her arm desperately, and in response, it began to vibrate so intensely that it caused the tips of her fingers to grow numb.

Wide-eyed, she watched as the black screen hummed to life, myriads of text garbling from top to bottom. She wordlessly got Sidon's attention with her overwhelmed expression, and he managed his way over to her by carefully stepping over the various obstacles. On the screen flashed a brick of text, so small she could barely make it out. 

_ Holder 3 : Critical failure imminent  _

_ Main hub handshake impossible _

_ Power concentration at meltdown levels _

_ Critical failure will result in immediate cessation of holder 2 vitals  _

_!Warning! : Holder 1 in immediate vicinity _

_ Proceed with extreme caution! _

A cold chill fell over her as she read the last few lines.

“Immediate vicinity?” Sidon repeated out loud. “Well, we are right below it, yes? Certainly it can't mean...” Link looked the sickening length of muck from the ceiling to the orb, watching its slow, syrupy movements. Sidon pointed at the thing, dumbfounded. “Is  _ this _ Ganon?” In a flood of recollection, remembering kicking her legs out from a centuries long slumber in a stony, water filled bed, she recalled the shape of the resurrection chamber. Grey rock and cave-like walls. This place resembled that with far too much precision.

And the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place with no gratification, but sheer horror. 

“This is Zelda’s resurrection chamber. And that...is Ganon.” The muted green and black orb pulsated like a thrashing body under tight sheets. 

“It’s trying to kill her.” The prince muttered under his breath. “By the goddess, it’s trying to suffocate her!” Link heard his sheathed sword click and slide as he pulled it free, and she held an inkling of what he’d planned to do. It was the same thing she had in mind, if not for what one of the lines in the slate’s warnings implied. 

“Wait!” She yelled, hopping over dirtied debris, grasping his decorated wrist and tugging as forcefully as her muscles allowed. “The temples are all turned off because of that.  _ The resurrection chamber is protecting her! _ ” He paused, and the tip of his sword tapped against the ground as he furrowed, shooting looks from her, to the glowing sphere. Sidon huffed unbelievingly, and looked up at the mass. 

"That must mean It’s using all it’s got. Every single underground chamber using its resources to protect the princess of Hyrule.” The ball angrily squeezed and stretched to get in, dead-set to strangle the life from her healing body. "I do not wish to stay by for Ganon's efforts to bear fruit." Link pointed the sword near the foreboding stairway, to the steps that ascended to infinite darkness. With a dry mouth and a nod, the hero spoke. 

"We need to be quick. Let’s go"

Slippery eroded steps kept the two at a cautious pace, surrounded on both sides with webs of vines of black corruption crawling along the walls.

"Goddess," Sidon coughed as he spoke, "I'm not leaving this place without some sort of ailment." Link felt as though she would slip on the stairwell, and grabbed Sidon for support, pointing the sword ahead to guide their way. Not but a few moments passed until her searching hand in the pitch dark had its knuckles brush against rough stone, and her body bumped against something hard and wooden, causing a number of rotted planks of wood to fall apart and smash against the ground. She released him from her nervous death grip, and pressed her arm against her nose, as she could  _ feel  _ the ancient wooden dust threatening to enter her airways. Waving her sword cautiously in either direction revealed to her their whereabouts, an unexpected corner of a cobblestone wall, right in the middle of a jail hall deep within the castles bowels.

"My, do you remember this place?" Sidon asked, his feet shifting the dusty wooden and metal objects at their feet, and struggling to make out finer details of the dim room.

Barrels, tables and rotted boxes lay decayed at waist level, a makeshift barricade for the previous room in which Zelda sleeps.

"I...don't think so." 

Turning around and studying the opening in the wall, it was apparent the resurrection chamber wasn't well known, as its entryway was once hastily knocked down by a rusty pickaxe nearby, proven by broken rubble all around the entrance. 

"Oh," Sidon was heard shuffling through the barricade, and she looked over to see him pushing aside a barrel on its side and crouching over something in the dark. “How horribly gruesome. The Shiekah really will sacrifice anything to protect the royal family, won't they?” Link maneuvered her way over by his side, and bore witness to the two sprawled skeletons next to the gaping doorway, adjacent to a line of rusty barred cells. Near their hands laid slender weapons, short curved blades and curious knives as small as one’s knuckle battered with age and neglect. “It’s like a scene out of time, truly. Their sacrifices were not in vain.” Sidon looked up, and with the miniscule amount of light that Link’s sword gave him, he let out another surprised gasp. “Look, the prisoners were left behind as well.” In each cell, skeletons with their hands near the rusted bars of their respective cages lay collapsed on the ground. Sidon shook his head, and scoffed. “This place is cursed, I swear it.” The tall prince stood, and spoke politely, motioning her to follow. “Stay close to me, if you would.”

The prison hall were scattered with stools, broken lanterns and fallen rock from shifted stonework in the ceilings and walls. The ropy black mass spread up the bars of the cells, on the walls and beams as she scanned the hall around her.

“I’m surprised this place hasn’t collapsed.” She thought out loud, “The support beams look like they’re about to break.” As if responding to her musings, the ground shook, and a low, growling rumble was heard outside that caused a pebble to  _ plonk  _ against her head. The sound of the thick wood beams that held the castle above over them was heard splintering and snapping slowly. The quake did not let up, the snapping did not cease in the slightest, and their window of opportunity to come out unscathed was shortening by the second. 

“We must hurry, we’ve not much time left.” The two began fast-walking, growing to a jog, and finally they broke into a hurried sprint, past broken weapons and felled suits of armor housing old bones. As she passed them, Link remembered the night she spent inside the Felled Pheasant, among peers and superiors who celebrated the beginning of Ganon’s end with wine and plentiful food. It was hard not to think of how many of those faces belonged to the scattered skeletons beneath her feet, the soldiers who stood no chance against venomous prophecy. Greeted with another set of compact stairs, the wooden steps creaked, threatening collapse at any second. Less stonework was being seen, more wood and concrete reminiscent of Hyrule castle’s base level became more apparent. It was not long after that they came upon the black stained red carpet enveloped hallways, and her memory confirmed that these were the very same grounds she walked upon in her life so very far away. Once gold-lined carpeting and magnificent marble walls were stained, corrupted and frayed beyond any opulence they once portrayed.

“We’re terribly close.” Sidon stated worriedly, his hand grasping the hilt of his sword, paying little mind to the black muck that grasped the walls, his eyes trained directly ahead on the rounding corridor for any danger that may lurk ahead. Foggy windows, broken glass littered the ground and let in cloudy, dull light and muddied rain. 

The vibration of thunder beat against the walls outside, among the foreboding sound of low grumbling that Link could only deduce was Ganon itself crying out for the inhabitants of Hyrule to hear. There were no words to describe such primal fear that bellow gave, such a horrifying sound was so grating and so inhuman that there was no way she could put a face to the noise. It was not a cry of anguish, not one of sorrow or want, but one of pure, unfiltered hatred coming from something so ancient and unfathomable that it pounded against her brain with its complexity, its absolute  _ wrongness _ . Her knees felt weak as they walked those halls. Indeed, it was like a waiting prisoner meeting the heavy axe toting executioner. They approached the once sturdy double doors and the leading prince busted through its degraded locks, revealing the outside of a courtyard spire, overcome with black muck in puddles mixing with oily rain reflecting the dark, cloudy sky.

The slate on her hip vibrated furiously, calling for attention with a loud screeching and a buzzing sound she’d never heard come out of the device. There was naught but a blank screen with a red icon, flashing with a small note of white text below. What dotted the screen below the flashing button was a string of numbers.

They were coordinates.

X and y numbers rapidly changed values as she moved the slate slightly, as if to egg her on in one direction or the other depending on her movements. Her eyes scanned for this location, this place the slate nudged her in, and it was a wonder that this strange anomaly on the slate tore her attention from the beast in front of her, the thing that wrapped around the main castle tower and weaved through windows and doors with thick, shining cords of blackened tar. 

Indeed, the holder of the Triforce of power, the embodiment of evil coiled up the castle spire like a dragon sitting upon its horde of ruin and rubble, but this thing was in no way reminiscent of such a simple creature. Dragons do not bear shifting amorphous forms like this, they do not suffer rot and reform in one fluid motion, death and rebirth of sinewy tissue in constant cycles second by second. Shadowy orbs spun and danced around the tower, shrouding from sight its full form, yet their goal was clearer than ever, it was truly in view.

"It's up there, it must be." He stated. Its gurgling roar shook the castle's ruins, and a mass of earthquakes followed. If these tremors were this bad in the other corners of the realm, there was no telling the ruin the rebuilt towns were subject to.

Through the swimming dots of spite and windswept debris that floated along cloudy rain, Link could just make out a bright red; shooting in thin red lines across the sky.

"Sidon, look!" She yelled through the choking yell of Ganon. The two continued cautiously into the courtyard; while Ganon's snake-like form was quite a ways away, there was no telling what such an unspeakable horror could do if provoked. 

"We're meant to lure the thing?!" He asked. 

She handed him the slate, the shifting numbers grew lesser and lesser as they approached the entrance to the Tower door. A great bolt of red lightning cracked through the sky, and the twitching mass of Ganon began sliding through the towers busted windows, through its splintered doorways, its body hissing through its movements. 

Had it noticed them? If it truly did, how quickly would it take to completely subdue two people? How was a ridiculous feat like taming the beast that overthrew a nation even possible? The cobblestone beneath her feet shifted and shook, and the prince took her arm with digging nails and dragged the two through the main towers entryway. This place was similarly derelict; the pale cloudy light filtering through the shattered windows illuminated neglected dining ware and torn portraiture littering the ground, rusted halberds hung against the walls despite the test of time. Again, those sights were so sickeningly familiar. Sidon was heard panting heavily, and seen chewing the inside of his cheek. 

"These numbers - these coordinates all line up perfectly within the keep's uppermost room. If we get there, if we...if we  _ lure _ the thing near it and hit this switch, I believe we may just have a chance to finish it." Earthquakes pounded against the castle's broken body, the roar of Ganon shuddered the nearly fully collapsed chandelier in the middle of the dining room. "We're going to be alright. I promise you." 

With the hilt of her sword in her shaky rain-soaked palm, she nodded. 

"I trust you." She stated nervously. 

Sidon wore a faux-confident grin, and handed the slate to her free hand. 

"I also trust your judgement much more than my own. I shall lure it. You need to-" 

The prince was cut short, and the two were knocked off their feet by not an earthquake, but a thunderous explosion that caused Link's sensitive ears to ring, overtaking any noises that followed. She tasted ancient rubble and her own blood, she felt her scratched fingertips rub against the coarse ground. She picked her wobbly body off the floor, seeing stars like flickering white pinpricks in her periphery. Her eyes struggled to adjust to the nigh-pitch dark room again, but she could just barely make out the prince standing himself to his feet, and with demanding hands, pulling her up the rest of the way. His expression said a lot, a scowl she'd never seen him wear showed such contempt, as if it didn't matter what Ganon had just done, for they still stood in that tower unharmed. They stood, ready to strike. Sidon spoke through gritted teeth. 

"Now!" He barked. "We must!"

Link felt a sour punch to her gut as the prince searched for and found the way up, a staircase coiling up the keep held chipped smooth stoned steps, bent and rickety handles hung off the sides and threatened to fall in the main room. Sidon maneuvered his body past the sections of Ganon that weaved in and out of windows.

"You're going to lure it?!" She yelled as they passed the second floor, continuing up steps in a steady pace. "I'm going to lure it with you!"

"No you are not! Stand a safe distance, and make sure those canons hit it!" 

She shook her head in disbelief, and tears streaked down her face as a cocophony of roaring and banging began outside the tower. 

The prince paid this no mind, he simply continued. 

"Sidon! You promised you wouldn't do this!" 

The prince growled to himself as they passed the third floor. 

"If I have to choose which to put in danger, I would choose me, every single time! I promised that no harm would come to you, and I do not say such things lightly! So stop this! Now!" His voice cracked near the end of his sentence, and he busted through the door to the tower's lookout. The screaming filled her ears, a gigantic cancerous lump of muck took up her vision. The thing was wrapped around and holding onto a support beam, overlooking the tower, its red eyes filled with unimaginable hate and malice as it screamed down upon something below it.

Goddess, she felt as though its gaze would petrify her, send her into a psychotic state. Just looking at its form dried her mouth and threw her brain into overdrive, as It looked so utterly wrong, oozing and melting and screaming in agony. The ground was covered in the same thing its body was made of, both dried and wet masses of black sludge shuddered along with its roars. 

She was at quite an impasse. Yelling Sidon's name would no doubt get the beast's attention, but not saying anything would just drive his steps that much closer to it. She was completely locked in place, watching him grasp his blade and unsheathe it with unyielding resolve. How was the sight of this thing not enough to stop him, even enough to make him flinch at the very least? He walked near the Divine beast's beams that met in the center of the turret, and drew forth a breath that Link just knew would be his undoing. 

"You!" His voice cracked once again as he yelled at the top of his lungs. His arm fins flared, and he stared daggers of hate comparable to Ganon's own. This towering man did not fear it the beast, not it that moment. Ganon stirred, its screaming halting as its body twitched. Its lumpy snake-like head turned slowly, shining in the putrid rain it had caused. Sidon held his arms outstretched, motioning for it to come to him. "Come, take one more life, Ganon." He drew in heavy, shaking breaths as he spoke. "For it will be your last!" Her shaking thumb hovered over the red icon on her slate. Ganon's body shifted in its place, cocking its monstrous head in curiosity. Link had never felt so drained, so intensely out of control, watching the way that thing looked at her beloved, like a predator would its prey. The grotesque beast's tail began to slither up the spire, and with it, its tail was shown, a shuttering orb glowing intensely with a sickly green color. That color was painfully familiar. 

It was same color Zelda's resurrection chamber was emitting. Ganon had anchored itself to her chamber, and like a mace, it slammed its tail against the tower walls, knocking the Hylian on her side with the tremor, and sending debris stinging in the left side of her face. She would not let her eyes off of him, nothing would take Sidon from her, and nothing would hurt her friend from her past life right before her eyes. She stumbled to her feet, and sprinted to the middle of the room where Sidon stood. Her voice came out wobbly, but she spoke as loudly as she could. 

"I'm the one you want! Come on!" She could practically feel Sidon's heart breaking right next to her. Ganon's eyes sparked as they trained on her, and her heart sank to her stomach, those fears of being petrified from such an icy stare had come to life. It wasn't just the stare that chilled her bones, it was the fact that she recalled him. Her very spirit recognized that look, it's hate transcended time, transcended life itself. She had been snarled at by that very hatred in countless past lives, and by Hylia, it hurt so deeply, it had bruised her core through millennia. It screamed and wailed, and with an angry huff of putrid breath into an indifferent sky, it reared back to end her. 

It all happened so quickly, the sounds of deafening screams and the smell of burnt hair, accompanied by an unimaginable flash of heat. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe, and her body felt utterly weightless, her limbs swaying with the lazy whims of gravity. If she strained her ears, she could hear the prince yelling something over the intense ringing. She slowly blinked her eyes open, struggling as if they were being held down by weights, and saw upon the skyline a clear sky beginning to creep its way through the realm. 

She felt her form pulled up by her wrist, and over Sidon's laying body. She rolled off of him, still barely registering much of what was going on, but took solace in one phrase Sidon was muttering to himself, right before she completely lost consciousness. 

"We did it, Link. We did it, Mipha." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm super sorry I havent posted in a while, but I seriously hope you like this chapter! I'm determined as heck to finish this story, which honestly has no end in sight, so. Thanks for sticking around. 
> 
> I love you all!


	36. Scarred But Not Undone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's morning, her head is killing her, and she's been sleeping on a hard, stone floor all night, but the sky has never been so clear. Is Zelda's bed anywhere near the spire?

She awoke to a careful touch on her sternum, a gentle hand patting along the surface of her skin, all the way up to her neck. Her limp arm was lifted up, and she darted her dry eyes open to see the shape of Sidon crouched over her, studying her for wounds. 

"H-hey." She whispered dumbly.

Was she dreaming? How could a sight so radiant follow such a painful feeling all around her body? Her joints stiffened as her mind struggled to piece together just what was going on. 

Goddess, it felt as though she'd run a lap around the realm. 

The prince smiled brightly like the sun, all while the clear blue sky filled the air with the sound of singing birds all around the tower. 

_ Tower.  _ Her mind reeled, and a growing, aching headache broke her dreamy state. In a flash, she remembered everything.

The prince sighed contentedly, his face showing serenity unbound. The prince laid her arm back on her chest.

"You're unharmed." He huffed, an unbelieving, dreamy look stretched his lips. "You're truly o-"

"You idiot!" She yelled curtly, catching the prince off his guard and heaving her aching body to his chest. "I told you not to do that, you idiot!" She weakly pounded against him with her fist, sniffling in snot and dried blood out of her nose, tears carrying remnants of the black sludge of Ganon down her face.

"Link, dearest." He spoke softly, shushing her politely and rubbing her aching back. "My sweet..." The kind prince pressed his index finger against the bottom of her chin, and pulled her gaze to his. He looked so relieved, so weightless. As badly as she wanted to scold him for being so reckless, she just couldn't keep a scowl with those beautiful eyes carrying with them such optimism and relief. "Consider those...horrible shackles freed, you've no more burden to carry. You, my love," He inhaled deeply, clutching onto her palm. "You're as free as everyone else in the realm." She looked around her. On the horizon, the sun was beaming bright light into new lands, scarred but not undone by Ganon’s ruin. She tried her absolute best to recall what exactly had transpired the night previous.

“All I remember was pressing that switch...and…” She trailed off, confused. 

Sidon shook his head, and scratched his equally dirtied face. Link hoped she didn't smell as gross as she felt.

“Well, the details aren't completely clear for me either, but I do remember you and I taking quite a hit from Ganon. I had you in my grasp. Tightly, might I add." He pulled back her sleeve, and showed her the deep marks his nails had made in her forearm. "You nearly fell off the tower itself, had I not pulled you up.” 

Link perked up, and her heart dropped through the floor. 

“ _ Zelda.”  _ Was all she had to say, and Sidon’s eyes dilated in fear. Such a horrific near death experience was like her memories being knocked out of her head all over again, as she had completely forgotten the tail that Ganon brandished was the very healing bed of Zelda herself. It was almost too gruesome an idea to want to check on her, but Link unsteadily stood herself on her own two feet. The girl who once stood by her side as a noble protector was showing, her eyes darting along the courtyard’s grounds for any sign of that glowing orb that housed her. Not much but rubble reduced to dust, coarse scratches against the muddied brickwork. The rain that poured the night previous was stagnating in pools in the crevices of the castle. The source of the explosion that knocked her down as Ganon roared upon the top of the tower was apparent, as the entire section of the castle was torn asunder from Ganon pulling its tail from the castle’s prison to more fervently try to rip the princess from her slumber. 

All she could remember was how it smacked the ball against the side of the tower, the thunderous sound of it smashing against the ground and flailing through the air

_ If that was the last thing it was doing, then… _

She peeked over the ledge, getting the prince's curiosity, and he quickly did the same. Her arm locked securely with his to support herself, and she winced at the marks he'd left on her with his claw-like nails. The bash the tower had taken had its mark, a sizable impact crater showed a few burnt items of furniture and blocks of brick torn through the floors that once housed soldier bunks in that tower. It must have been a bunk that had taken that strike, and in it, Link held a notion that Zelda just might be inside. 

"Oh, no." She mumbled hastily, turning heel and muttering anxiously. 

"What did you see?" Sidon asked, unable to do much but tail behind her brisk pace. 

"Oh no, oh no." She thumped down the stone steps, past the third floor. 

The remnants of cots and ancient weapon racks were all that littered that floor, nothing in sight. As she descended, she passed such broken cots along the way, kicking them aside and finally coming to face the second floor. 

Laying upon its side, the dimly glowing container laid from crash landing inside the bunkroom, cradling the princess like an egg holding its chick. If she didn't know any better, and if not for the blue light emanating from it, she'd assume it was a coffin by its shape.

"Help me flip her over." She demanded, coming up to the device and gripping it's unbelievable weight.

Without a word, the prince secured his fingers on the bed, and supported its size as they gently lowered it to the ground.

She panted and stood back, waiting for it to do something... _ anything. _

"Perhaps she isn't ready to exit yet? Maybe...she's still healing within the chamber?"

Link placed her palm against the top of the pod, a warm stony texture transferred hopeful heat into her palm. 

"Regardless of that, it's probably best to move the thing so tha-"

Link's slate screeched to life like it had the night before, an atonal resonance that felt as though it was coming from all around her. The slate held nothing but a single green button, similar to the one she'd seen not hours before. She glanced from the slate in her hand, to the bed before her.

Her stomach turned itself in knots in anxiety.

The ancient Shiekah have never let her down before, but the prospect of seeing her oldest best friend was like coming upon a poe in a graveyard; she felt more than frightened, and couldn't shake her fears free. 

With a nervous tremor, she pressed the glowing interface, and the beds locks freed themselves, emitting an uncomfortably warm steam from its cracks.

What lay underneath as it's stony cover slid open was no dead body, no nightmarish decaying corpse,  but a sleeping, half submerged body clad with light leather armor ill-fitting to her body. Her flowing golden locks similar to Link's floated freely in the liquid all while a pouty, troubled expression soured her face.

In this state, she was a deity out of time, regality and cautious sternness still emanated from even her slumbering form. Link remembered all the fondness she had of that sternness, how the princess had the wellbeing of others in mind before all, but with a demand of respect that carried her voice and actions at all times. Thinking on that old familiar feeling made her realize that back then, she just wanted to be like Zelda, in both beauty and character.

Link had a hard time pulling her attention to view Sidon's equally entranced expression. 

To wake up in such a different life, among lineages of people who survived the Calamity, having lost those so dear to her. It was going to test Zelda in ways Link felt herself personally responsible for. 

The princess startled awake, and Link was taken aback as Zelda’s hands grasped the side of the chamber, white-knuckled like she was gripping herself out of a nightmare. 

What had one hundred years done to merit such a startled reaction? 

Her eyes darted around the ruinous tower, and she lifted herself up by her shaking arms. Link glanced over to Sidon, who looked as though he was witnessing a poe rise from the ground. Zelda’s expression grew more fearful as she looked between the two, like a frightened animal awoken from slumber. Were her fears coming to life? Was she realizing what nightmare she had woken up to? Did she even remember Link? The fear was only heightened as she tried to speak, sounding like there was gravel stuck in her throat. The princess tried and failed to fight back a wave of coughing, drops of the healing waters falling from her mouth coupled with stringy spit. 

Link approached her, and attempted to set her hand on the princesses’ pauldron, met with a recoiling, bitter look. 

“It’s okay, you’re okay, Zelda!” Link held her arms out to show she was in no way any harm. What had all that time done to her brain? The normally formal and studious girl looked like a feral wolf torn from the familiarity of her pack. The girl pulled herself from her watery bed with fear shaking her limbs. 

Trying to stand was a mistake, her knees wobbled and she toppled over like a newborn fawn. Link crouched down, and hesitated offering a hand, as it would most likely be met with another fearful gasp, and perhaps an attempt to flee. 

"Wh…" Zelda hacked again, holding tightly the chestpiece of half-buckled armor that covered her midriff. Her coughing grew to a peak, before too much pressure caused her shuddering organs to expel a torrent of the chamber waters from her mouth, and she fell face first with the liquid mixing with the ash on the castle floor. 

"By the goddess," Sidon exclaimed like a caring brother, coming to a knee to meet the passed out girl, and scooped her up. "We need to get her medical attention. Quickly." The prince glanced out of the opening in the tower, and held two fingers up to the Hylian princesses neck. "Her pulse is frightfully quick, I'm afraid." 

Link frowned. "Well we can't get to Kakariko without…"

After looking at the ruined shortcut to the teleporter room, the prince turned around to meet her gaze, and he relinquished a sigh.

"Aren’t afraid of a little walking, are you?” The prince playfully smirked. “Or shall I carry you as well?"

Stepping over the rubble and navigating a path out of the broken sets of stairs and half caved in rooms was a challenging task indeed, beyond the muddied puddles of murky rainwater had they found a small opening where the castles gaping entrance once stood tall. Aside from all of this chaos, walking out of that squalid place was like being reborn for Link, as her shackles of destiny were unchained from her aching wrists, and the realisation drove her to contemplative silence as they found footing on a road out of the castle and into the swaying grasses of Hyrule field. 

Another reason for such dreadful silence was the girl cradled in Sidon's arms. The two waiting with baited breath for any communication from her other than a small spasm here, a little yelp there. She was no doubt asleep, perhaps faced with a hundred years of waiting dreams, kept from her subconscious as she restlessly slept through chaos. Sidon was more gentle than Link could even fathom, his upper body stayed so still to keep her from waking as they walked through grassy fields covered in leaping grasshoppers.

Link recognized that hardened leather armor strapped to her body, and she noticed how half of its fastening clasps were unhooked, showing a row of chainmail underneath.

“She never wore armor.” Link started sadly, “They had to have put it on her right after the calamity hit.” 

Sidon hummed quietly. 

“I’m surprised she isn’t wearing more. Though, Hylian armor seems sturdy enough to handle a lot. I keep trying to put together what could have happened. I’m certain you don’t remember, nor do I wish for you to at all, yet, I can just imagine how much of a last ditch effort putting her inside of that chamber was.” 

“Putting her in armor small enough to fit into the bed, too. Patrol wore that armor.”

“Perhaps it was all they had.”

Link’s thoughts were suddenly tied up from a single notion.

“I just hope she doesn't remember the Calamity.” 

Sidon fell silent, before finding words Link knew were hard to choose.

“I hope this world satisfies her, and I hope the grief she endures is short, and fulfills her heartache. She still has you, you know.” He said optimistically, giving the Hylian at his side a genuine smile. “She won't be alone.” 

“She used to tell me about what she was studying all the time. She always apologized for talking to me so much. She was the best part about being her guard.” Link said thoughtfully. “She even used to call me her good compeer.” 

“I’m certain you were a wonderful compeer. I’ve no doubt that you will continue to be.” 

It then hit her how overwhelmingly tired she was. Her nerves were set to their limits so recently, pumping her full of so much adrenaline her jaw even ached from clenching it shut so tightly.

She slapped herself for being so forgetful.

Sliding from its holster, the slate hummed to life with its screen glowing brighter than ever, perhaps now the ancient tech could find all of its energy, at ease from keeping Ganon at bay. Upon the map, the once flickering dots of dead Shiekah temples showed their pleasant blue colors. 

“Everything is back on.” She rotated the slate to Sidons view, and pointed at the little icon next to Riverside stable. “We can go to Kakariko from here.” 

The prince squinted at the small icon, and perked up.

“Hey, I remember that stable! It’s probably best we try and stay as hushed as we can, people will be no doubt curious, and we’ve not much time.”

Aside from the occasional thrashing, Zelda was in relative peace, her eyes shaded by Sidons body as the sun loomed overhead. Upon the trail, old bokoblin encampments were seen vacated completely. Had it been that Ganon’s influence, once taken from their husks, cut their puppet-like ties? Perhaps they all  _ poofed  _ into smoke as soon as Ganon drew its final breath.

“A piece of the stable.” Sidon mumbled sorrowfully, pointed to the right of the trail at a rusted piece of metal in the shape of a horse's snout. “It must have blown apart last night.” Link felt a bitter pang of guilt for no reason other than her destiny still looming itself over her shoulders like a storm cloud. “We have to get people in all corners of Hyrule to see how everyone took the storm last night. Because right now,” Sidon fell silent as he heard a small group of chattering ahead of them. They sounded distressed, and as she looked, Link could see an injured man leaning up against a tree being comforted by another few from what used to be the stable. Sidon cleared his throat. “Because right now, it seems as though everyone could use a hand.” 

Link hummed in agreement, watching the trader smile through a wince of pain as he gripped his midriff. Dirt and sweat caked a side of his face, and a shoddy looking sword was leaning against the tree.

Before descending through to the belly of the shrine below, Link watched the few traders gathering what they could from the broken stable. The place was completely obliterated, and at this, her heart sunk for the homes of Kakariko, for the half dilapidated city of Gerudo, for the fragile spire village of the Rito people.

Stepping into the depths of the chamber was like setting foot in a different world, one apart from the chaos and clutter above. The girl in Sidon’s arms stirred, mumbling incoherently words of distress, pleading calls for those who were finally able to hear. Link prayed to every goddess she could think of as she stepped upon the transporting room’s floor. Praying for not one casualty, not one felled building. Not one person deserved the reign of terror that occured a hundred years before, let alone the surprise ambush the night prior.

Her anxiety coiled her intestines, gripping her like a clenched fist. Sidon, without speaking a word, pressed the transport button, and what was heard following this was a cacophony of speech. Impa village bustled to their left, a town full of people sheltered from the catastrophe. The two poked their heads out of the room, viewing the streets that peeked through the spacings between the buildings. As predicted, the village was filled with most likely every person from Kakariko, as well as numerous traders, Hylian wayfarers, and much to Link’s surprise, a few scaly Goron folk, bearing thick-netted bags of rocks and glittering gemstones attached to backpacks. 

The people were sat up against buildings, around the statue of the three golden goddesses, anywhere that seemed a reasonable place to settle down and rest after what was probably a night full of despair and uncertainty for every single person involved. Lines of tiredness creased under their eyes as they moved their sights to the prince and Link, who walked the street looking for Impa, Mona or Paya. Someone to fill them in on all of what’s occured. 

Bright lights flashed behind some of the older folks eyes, the greyed haired Hylians who had been around long enough to have heard tale of old Hylian armor, and how the golden locks of Princess Zelda brightened any room they were in. Put simply, this girl looked out of time, rightfully so. One particular elder Shiekah was the first to realize who this girl was, his eyes lit up and looked to Link’s, asking in silence if what he was seeing was true. He did not hesitate to stand, and approach the two with nervous hands fiddling at his midriff. 

Link recognized him as Dorian. Usually studious, chest puffed out in pride as he would stand guard by Impa's temple. Now, however, he looked humbled, he looked as though his words would get him killed if he were to choose them incorrectly. 

“Forgive me,” He said, words spoken shakily. “Is that...could that be?” Sidon nodded solemnly, and dared not to speak too loudly. 

“It is.” Such simple words caused such a great impact on the elder.

The man held a hand over his mouth, and tears began running down the wrinkles in his face. 

“I-...Is she…” 

“She’s okay.” The prince said politely. “She needs a place to rest”

Shaking his head out of his bewilderment, the elder nodded fervently.

“Yes, of course, of course. Right this way.” 

Passing the murmuring folk, the four arrived at a building most notably similar to Impas, its stony celing bearing slanted edges meeting upward, bearing circuitry that all met just above the door. “Impa is just inside.” Dorian stated in a low tone, a passionate one, dripping with thankfulness. “Thank you, you do not know how much this means to us.” The elder put a veiny hand to the room, it’s foggy blue door dematerialized, and within, the lady of Impa and Kakariko village sat accompanied by Mona and Paya. 

This temple was not entirely unlike the one she had in Kakariko. If anything, it looked even more traditional, bearing neon colored texts of Kanji in various spots on the walls, prayer beads hung from the ceilings close to three small statuettes of the golden goddesses on the side of the room, bearing little bowls at their feet for offerings. It looked as though this temple had already been broken in, comfortable to the elder and her granddaughter, as well as the distracted scholar, her eyes buried in a book at her lap, surrounded by texts half opened and left at her sides. 

The elder was the first to perk up, sitting on a large stone pedestal in the back of the room like a precious artifact. Squinting her beady eyes, it was not long until the crash of realization fell over the elder, and her lungs began to hyperventilate in excitement, in pure overwhelming shock.

“Y-you…” She croaked, her finger pointing at a few pillows near the back of the room. “Paya, could you..” 

The elders granddaughter spun her neck around in great worry at her tone. “Put her down, please. Let me see her.” So much woe carried her voice, her hands were clenched into fists like tightened yarn. It was all one quick movement, Paya placed the pillows near the middle of the room, and with the calmness of an angel, Sidon placed the sleeping princess upon them. They were a bit damp, perhaps from the rainfall the night before. The princesses hair laid, draped over the pillows and falling onto the floor below. Her face looked rife with malcontent, but the elder looked as though she was having an epiphany. 

“Oh,” The elder groaned. As brittle as this woman was, as arthritic as she looked when doing simplest things, she lifted herself from her pedestal, and on her knees, crawled toward the sleeping princess. Paya gave her grandmother a nervous look, seeming as though she would intervene on behalf of Impa’s health, but could not in her right mind do so. “Oh, dear Zelda. You live and breathe.” Her bony arms wrapped around the sleeping princesses shoulders, and the elder pressed her head up against her left pauldron, tears running down the still shining metal. The old woman shook through tremors and sobs, and finally, as her lungs could no longer allow her brittle body to weep any longer, she began to laugh. She lifted herself up by her arms, her knees dug uncomfortably into the stony ground by the pillows at which the princess lied.

She pressed her wrinkled hand up to Zelda’s cheek, and spoke quietly. 

“How your skin burns, child. Your love for this realm is tantamount, it has not been forgotten. So very missed, so very needed.” Impa muttered something in Shiekah. Perhaps it was a prayer, perhaps a blessing. “This old woman has lived this long to be gifted so many miracles, how we have needed you two.” The shaking elder held her head up to meet Link’s gaze, and through tears and sniffling, she spoke to the both of the heros. “You are such wonderful family. Thank you for your heroism.”

Choked by emotion, Sidon struggled to keep a polite and formal tone. 

“You need not thank us, Lady Impa.” 

Zelda stirred quietly, before a liquidy, gurgled cough brought her to life, brought her to sit up erect with her arms grasping forward at nothing, as if she was attempting to flee a nightmare. Paya, Mona, all of them sat in stunned silence at the moaning princess. Instinctively, the girl pressed into a fetal position, and with her elbows on her knees, she pressed her gloved hands into her face. 

An unexpected reaction, to wake up and immediately shield oneself from their surroundings. She pulled herself back from her position, with bright and confused eyes teeming with lucidity. A myriad of emotions painted her face in the coming moments. Fear, recognition, confusion, horror, all while she looked around the room, viewed her saviors, and viewed the world left after Ganon’s reign. Her body was woozy, lazing from side to side in an unsteady, drunken stupor.

Link could tell that Zelda’s memory was more intact than her own upon waking up from stasis, as her next words were spoken for her and her only with frightening clarity. 

“My champion,” She croaked, “What has become of my father? Where are my escorts?” 

Link’s throat twisted itself shut, as did the rest of the company in the room. The frazzled girl grew frantic at her protector’s silence. She looked at the Zora prince, and squinted as she whispered in confusion. 

“Mipha…You’re Princess Mipha’s brother.” Her eyebrows shot up, and she inhaled sharply. The princess gripped the Link's shoulders. “ _ Link, what of my kingdom? How much time has passed?!”  _ The princess searched for an answer on Link's face, and fell victim to mournful sobs.

"It's been one hundred years." Link mumbled sadly, her body gripped unbelievingly by the girl in front of her. 

" _ No, no it hasn't! Prithee, do not toy with me! I'll have you banished, I swear it!" _

The group could do little but hear her pleading cries, a dead silence filled the air between her choking sobs. 

It was an odd feeling, to have the princess so close, to feel her head heaving tears onto the shoulder of her guardian. It felt like a memory that belonged in Link's past life, but was happening in that very moment.

" _ So it is just *sniff* you and I now?! _ " She spoke through frantic hyperventilation. 

"Impa is right here," Link tried to say as softly as she could. "It's okay, Zelda. We aren't alone." 

The princess turned, and met the gaze of the glossy-eyed elder, still on her knees in utter disbelief and heartbreak.

The girl's shoulders slumped, a dreadfully resigned expression ran across her puffy-eyed face.

"How has my Kingdom fared, Impa? Did my father's age take him, or did he…" 

The elder simply replied by shaking her head.

Zelda looked back to Link, not at her, but through her. Perhaps her mind was so far apart from that place in time, somewhere less harsh.

"Oh, father." She said listlessly, tears still running down her reddened cheeks. "I would very much like time alone, if it could be arranged."

Links heart broke all over again as she heard Impa's shaking voice.

"Is there nothing you wish for? Food? Drink?" The princesses jaw tightened, and her eyes traced the ground with no clear goal.

"I want for nothing but a place to meditate, alone." 

"Paya," The elder spoke meekly, "Take her to her quarters." 

With unsuccessfully held back tears of her own, Paya stood to attention, and stood with faux confidence at the girl's side. 

"You come to this room if there's anything you need." Impa said. 

The elder was met with not much but a sad glance as the princess sulked out of the room. That defeated expression cried more pain than any tears could, hit harder than any sword.

Heartbreak did not vacate as Zelda left, the air was still thick with deafening silence. 

“Goodness,” Sidon finally spoke, sitting on one of the few pillows in the room and running his hands across his face stressfully. “She has a long road of healing ahead of her." 

Link sat beside him, and silently thanked the stars above that her life was left forgotten in the past.

After being helped up by Link onto her pedestal once again, and joined by the scholar who could do nothing but watch as the previous scene unfolded, Impa drew a defeated breath, battered by a myriad of emotion just as everyone else was. She spoke and cut loose the silence that deafened them all. 

“She had such a nice life. Of course, I heard most of this as hearsay from the handmaidens and her father, but it was so easy to see how happy she always was. Stressed, buried in duties, but oh, she thrived."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! We've reached an arc!!! But this series still isnt done yet, woo c: I have much more planned. 
> 
> I love you all!


	37. Hyrule waits.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda finds herself as an outsider in Hyrule once again, surrounded by people who had only heard stories passed from 100 years of generations. Regardless of this, she feels the invisible push to be a leader once again, all while coping with the pillaging of her kingdom one hundred years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey this is a Zelda chapter among probably a good chunk of others, as I have a good amount of ideas of what to do with this character in the story. I hope you like it!

"U-um, right this way.” She nervously placed her fingers over a blue, glowing panel next to a shrouded doorway veiled in the same energy. 

Even though her archaeology efforts toward unearthing the divine beasts bore so much fruit in the few months she had spearheaded the campaign, they had unearthed no buildings or caverns other than the resurrection chambers; this underground city was entirely new to her, and it was so hard to even describe her confusion as she studied its intricacies. 

The blue panel vibrated with recognition, the doorway melted away into what Zelda assumed were her quarters. 

An empty room, bare-bones made up of a simplistic bluish stone she’d never quite seen before. No, in all of the places she’s visited, from the sandstone of Gerudo town, to the silver flecked dark blue stone that surrounded Zora domain like an opulent bowl, this place was utterly alien to her. Dim lights illuminated bare furnishings built into the walls. Hardly a place to lay one's head, the bed jutting from the wall reminded her of the jail cells in Hyrule castle's dungeons. 

This nervous, long-haired Shiekah girl, was she Impa's daughter? Given how frail the elder was, and how young this one was, that couldn't be right, perhaps her granddaughter? She was awfully timid, quiet and sullen as Zelda's infectious depression spread in her vicinity like a plague. If she was of right mind, apologies would be given to everyone involved, but no, this place, these people did not belong to her. It felt so utterly wrong to talk to them. 

Her aching head throbbed recollection, and as the door shut behind her, she began to be dog piled by these memories. Unclasping the heavy leather armor off her person, left with a torso wrapped in chainmail and a white undershirt, she dropped the garment down to the floor.

"Father," she whimpered aloud, sitting in shock on the rock-hard bed. "you couldn't have listened to me and left the town while you had the chance, you stubborn  _ fool! _ "

Her system shocked painfully, stubborn recognition worming its way to her conscience. Her dearest Urbosa. No, no no.

How wildly did those memories come in the coming moments, and she could only sit in utter silence and lament over them, letting them seep through the cracks, letting them weigh down on her heart and stomach, threatening bile at the back of her throat.

It was not but two weeks before when she visited Gerudo, spending what little leisure time she had among the Gerudo chieftain's presence. What a magical memory that was, and how bitter it was to open herself to recalling it. 

_ This is all a dream, yes? What kind of sick, cruel reality would put me here, two weeks after… _

The door to her room was heard buzzing, dematerializing in that curious way only the ancient Shiekah could make seem normal, and the form of her old ally was illuminated from behind. She had a difficult time putting together just what she was looking at. Link was indeed a...particular creature, having an affinity for her own clothing was one revelation that took her a few days to digest, but seeing him here? Clad in her clothes, with a bra strapped around his torso? It was all so terribly vexing. 

“If you’ve any respect for me, leave me! I've told you, I wish to be alone!” She hissed, her words fell flat against Link’s ears, as he continued to pass through the doorway, it materialized behind him. It was so difficult to look him in the eyes, so she rested her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave you alone.” His voice was different from before, his cadences were more feminine, and his tone was undoubtedly higher than before. His voice, once used so sparsely during times of absolute need, was so very different now. He spoke as if he’d done it all his life, little to no hesitation carried very soft and gentle words. 

“How do you not comprehend this, Link?! This is like a walking nightmare _! _ ” In a surge of aggression, she pulled her head from her hands and viewed her old friend, staring daggers in his eyes. How could he not feel what she’s feeling? “Do you not remember the life you had?! Lest… _ Oh, Link!  _ Is this the world over? Could it be that I’m truly deceased?” 

The Hylian pressed his lips together firmly, and shook his head with sympathy in his eyes.

“It’s Hyrule.” As softly as his words were spoken, they still brought tears to her in droves. It hurt so badly to even cry anymore, as if her face had no more tears to produce. “I don’t remember much from my life before this, I’m sorry.”

“As deeply as it stings to muse on such things, what has become of it all? The surface? You found me in the castle, yes?” Link scrunched his face up inquisitively, and shot his eyebrows up as soon as he understood.

“What’s left of it.” 

Zelda held up a hand, and rubbed her temple with the other. 

“What’s left of it? My people, my castle, and the rest of Hyrule?”

He furrowed.

“Rito village is still around, so is the Zora domain, Hateno, The Goro-” 

“And Gerudo?” She asked in haste, hanging onto every thread of hope that she could. 

“It’s still there.” 

Her heart lifted, if only slightly with relief. The princess nervously gripped the edge of her chainmail between two fingers.

“And their chieftain? Lady Urbosa?” Her voice cracked with worry, and her finger and thumb ached from the pressure she was putting on the cold links of steel. 

“Um,” he began, “All of the champions...died, during the Calamity.” 

Her lungs felt completely sucker-punched, and her dried mouth grew even drier in her heartbroken state. 

Everyone had died? Mipha, Daruk, Revali? 

Urbosa?

Her trembling voice could barely coherently carry her words.

"It was just yesterday, Link." Her whimpering was spoken to beg, pleading for her friend to recall that day. “We were on pilgrimage, for my own sake. Even against the will of my own father, did you come. You were all so kind-” She held herself back from flooding emotion, threatening to burst like a cracked dam wall. “-so kind as to accompany me to make a significant archaeological discovery.”

She studied the Hylian’s expression for a spark of recognition, but could find nothing of the sort. 

“Perhaps if I...perhaps if I spoke of it at length, you would find yourself remembering that day? Our mission?” 

Link’s right ear flicked, and he nodded. 

“You can try.”

The princess cleared her throat, and like walking into a darkness-soaked cavern, she searched for those memories in uncertain and wavering courage. 

“We had done it before, father called it ‘foolish treasure hunting’. It was a sort of...symbolic pilgrimage, and to some degree I wished for it to put my fears of Ganon’s arrival to rest by way of gaining some supernatural insight into how to defeat it. You see, in older days, many chancellors believed you and I to hold specific aspects of the triforce. Wisdom, and courage. By all accounts, I am the holder of wisdom, you are courage, and there’s said to be three shrines that symbolize this...tie, that holds our souls to this place. It’s spoken of only in the most ancient of texts, now most likely gone with the rest of the castle, but...it’s said that Nayru tied my spirit to the soil in that very spot. I wished for nothing more than to find it, and perhaps tap into that latent power, to feel my past lives. It’s said to be a wellspring of the energy that the goddesses held, and that just by their appearance into our mortal realm gave Hyrule magic, and with the years passing, the magic of the realm soaked into the ground like rain and disappeared. Regardless, we trekked, a three days' excursion at most. It wasn't until midday of the first that it happened, a terrible quake, and...” 

Her voice got lost in her emotion, and she clamped her shaking hand over her mouth and doubled over in pain, barely registering Link's hand on her back.

"Urbosa was my...she meant such a great deal to me. I looked to her for guidance, I mirrored her every movement and watched her like a pupil does her teacher." The princess pushed her head against her hands and shuddered. "Dare I say, that she...Ah, worry not." 

There was a pause, the lingering dust in the room settling with her stifled emotions.

"She was trapped in Naboris." Link began, getting a puzzled, stung look from Zelda. 

"She was what?" A mixture of anger and confusion carried her tone. 

"Her spirit, it was trapped. Ganon somehow...stuck her in there. She-” 

She held up a hand to still her ages-old compeer. 

“She  _ what?!  _ You just told me she had perished!”

She was met with a half nod, half flinch, as if there was no other way to describe what he had seen.

“She was killed. Ganon trapped her spirit in Vah Naboris.” 

“You’re telling me that she was suffering in that sand-ridden sarcophagus as a  _ poe? _ ” Link pressed his bottom lip against his top, as she had guessed all-too correctly.

“She mentioned you.”

"Sh...she did?"

"She called you strong." The princess winced at this, as she could practically hear Urbosa's velvety voice speaking those very words, as she had called her strong so many times in the past. 

Muttering confusedly to herself, Zelda’s eyes were forced to produce even more tears. The girl could feel the dehydration of her body slurring her thoughts, the ache at the front of her skull nearly matched the pain of her arrow-riddled heart. Zelda spoke drearily 

“Fetch me some water, kindly.”

“Ye-yeah, of course. I’ll be right back.” He said quietly. 

Time moved slowly as her bodyguard's absence was felt filling the silence in the room with white noise, gnawing thoughts like carnivorous bugs ravenously ate away at her mind. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to be alone, yet seeing those people, the starry eyes of strangers as she woke up in Impa's chambers, it would certainly take some getting used to. Those looks were sparkling with optimism, perhaps a healing salve on the wound that was the past one hundred years, yet, it felt so wrong to meet them with similar gazes. 

The door to her quarters de-materialized, and through it, not just Link appeared, but the eight-foot tall Zora prince did as well, wearing an equally disheveled expression. She would have never guessed he would end up so...tall? Handsome? His stance was rightfully regal, yet his presence sparked a less dreadful feeling in the room, for his expression was worried and caring. 

“Here,” Link held out a dried, hollowed out gourd traditionally used by Shiekah people to hold water and medicine, it sloshed with fresh water dripping out of its lip. 

Her dry insides quenched in the most cooling, welcoming feeling as the water fell down her throat for the first time in a century, and with it, her thoughts parted like cloudy skies.

“I hope you don’t mind.” Link said, motioning to the tall prince next to him. 

“I insisted.” He began in his studious tone, not unlike Zelda’s in its calculated regality. “I do hope that is alright.” 

“No, I fear that isolation just might be a bad idea for my psyche at this point. It’s a pleasure to meet you, though I'm afraid I already have.” The prince gave an understanding gaze, and could only produce a half-chuckle as he bent down to retrieve the brown leather chestpiece she had dropped to the floor.

“I vaguely remember.” He watched her tip the bulbous gourd toward her lips, and unceremoniously quench her thirst. “I’m sure it’s as clear as a spring day to you, yes?” She pulled the lip down, and wiped her face with a sleeve.

“I saw you just last week, as a matter of fact. Tied to your big sister like a string of yarn.” Sidon smiled sadly as he nonchalantly studied the chestpiece, playing with its various bucklings between his long-nailed fingers. 

“I was born to be her shadow, I'm well aware.”

"Not without good reason." Zelda huffed aloud, finishing off the cold water, and fighting the urge to bury her hands in her face once more after she set the hollowed jug down on the ground. Oh, how kind Mipha was. To even conceive of that...spreading corruption Zelda had witnessed on that terrible day ending the lives of her peers brought her to the brink of another mental breakdown. "She is... _ was,  _ the most pure of heart."

“I met with her spirit one last time, before she departed.” A sad smile pulled at the prince’s lips. “I would most definitely still be her shadow, if I had the chance. But, thanks to her,” He motioned to Zelda’s old friend, a crimson blush was barely visible on his cheeks through the heavenly blue glow illuminating the room. “Both Hyrule and my domain can walk freely again, and my sister can rest comfortably.”

Her?

_ Oh.  _

Oh dear, he’s now a she? Considering his, or rather, her muteness, uncomfortability, that awkward confession about her stealing her clothes from her own wardrobe. Has this feeling followed him like a curse his whole life?

Perhaps now wasn’t the best time to ask. Still, Zelda’s tenacious curiosity barked at her like a snarling dog. 

The princess cleared her throat, straightening her hunched back on the hard stone bed. 

“If you don't mind my asking, how  _ is _ ...Hyrule?”

Sidon placed the hardened slab of leather armor on the table beside her, and drew in a breath of concentration.

“Well, after the Calamity-” 

“The Calamity?” She quickly inquired. 

Sidon’s face lit up with recognition. 

“Ah, the event. The day you were put into stasis. Not certain who coined the term, but, I'd say it's a rather apt name.” 

Zelda’s shoulders slumped. They had their very own day for such a horrid event. Like some macabre holiday, they had given it it’s very own name. 

“The Calamity.” She repeated to herself as he drew a breath to speak again.

“All of the Divine Beasts were corrupted and used by Ganon’s will. Like some sort of virus. Ruta beat heavy rainstorms upon my domain so ruthlessly that we could not leave without being struck by lightning or ambushed by raiding Lizalfos.” 

“Li-...Lizalfos? You were all  _ stuck there? _ ” Her dizzying thoughts threatened to spin off kilter in confusion. The Lizal tribe was not only far above north of the Domain, their curiously bone-riddled huts and homes reaching well above what her family considered to be a part of Hyrule, lining the Akkala beaches with their relatively peaceful campsites, they were just that. Relatively peaceful.

“You’re just as confused as the Zora army was a hundred years ago,” He chuckled flatly. “Are you sure you wish to hear more? I understand that this can be a lot to...take in, at such a tumultuous  time.”

“No, no. Do continue.” She pushed her legs together and forced her hands in her lap, keeping herself from nervously fiddling with the mail on her person.

“The Boko tribe, the Lizal tribe, and many other various creatures known to stay in the company of these tribes had suffered the same fate as the Divine Beasts. They were all...infected. My army coiled the trail from our domain, and after passing Luto’s crossing, they never did return. My people were cornered for one hundred years. The Gorons went underground, the Rito became even more reclusive than before, and-” 

“And the Gerudo?” She inquired.

“The Gerudo were okay.” Link piped up. “They were hurt from the calamity, and I think their town was broken up from some of the earthquakes, but, they’re a huge trading post now. They’ve got traveling traders, a good amount of classes are held in the town. It’s nice there.” 

A smile lined with flaring optimism and pride shone on Zelda’s face. That was the Gerudo, all right. Tenacious and forthright in the face of anything. The only thing that ever held them back, were their own self-righteous tendencies, that of which Urbosa remedied so well. She leaned forward, curious as to what their government has been through since the years have passed. 

“And their lady?” She plainly asked, much to Link’s confusion. 

Sidon cleared his throat. “Their ruler.” 

“Oh! Lady Riju. She’s stern, and really serious, but I think the Gerudo see her as a good leader.” Zelda had to hold back a quick laugh behind her hand. 

“Of course she’s stern, she’s a Gerudo ruler. Riju is the name of Urbosa’s Vaa’sa, so I take that there is some bloodline relation. It’s no surprise that she is...” All of her sorrowful emotions came lashing back at her at the thought of Urbosa.

“Vaa’sa?” Link asked, oblivious to Zelda’s growing woe. 

“Her aunt, yes?” Sidon’s intuition was correct, and as she held back tears, Zelda nodded her head in agreement.

“I must meet this Lady Riju. I must tell her what her predecessor meant to me.” Zelda could practically feel the sand beating her bare skin again as she reached back into those memories; the smell of that particular sunscreen she would wear to protect her fair skin in the raging heat, but mostly, she could remember the vast changes she saw Urbosa making as her time as Lady stretched on. 

“I think you’ll find the welcome warm, as you will with all of Hyrule. Were you particularly close to Urbosa?”

“Yes.” She said, voice devoid of emotion, and eyes watching her Hylian bodyguard sit next to her, with his- or rather, her hands pressed against the bed, leaning back with a worried expression. "Yes, she meant quite a lot to me, to put the matter lightly."

"With that I can empathize. This Hyrule, here and now, is happy to see you, Princess Zelda, and I do not doubt that you will find the happiness I, too, have found. It is a testament to power, to love and compassion, to steeling oneself against hardship. I've seen the wounded tended to by their allies, crying villagers consoled by their peers. Countless times have I seen people in the throes of hysterical laughter with their companions. You are not alone in this realm. Hyrule waits."

"Oh dear, such astute words. No, I do not doubt my place in this realm, It is just...the pain from being taken from the old world will take some time to mend my wounds." 

"We implore you, both Link and I. Come back and eat with us at Impa's abode." 

Zelda rubbed her palm against her cheek, and exhaled. 

"Yes. So be it." Zelda's shoulder was nudged by the rosy cheeked Link sitting next to her, and they both exchanged a long, unsure smile. 

It was a daunting task to call to her the composure needed to seem even slightly put together, her chainmail still lolling lazily at one shoulder, slumped-shouldered with a lazy gait. She did, however, find some comfort in her old friend standing by her side. Perhaps with this foothold of familiarity she could come to terms with her situation, perhaps even cope if given time. The elders' eyes lit up as the princess entered alongside the others.

“I do apologize for my episode.” 

The elder gave a knowing smile.

“Nonsense. It’s quite a shift to make in what feels like a night’s sleep.” 

The elder’s granddaughter lifted a decorative ceramic lid off of a steaming pot, and began ladling generous amounts of a familiar looking soup in each. 

“Oh dear,” Zelda began, “Is that?...” The sight of the thick, imperfect noodles lying lazily in cucco broth was enough to well her eyes with tears. A simple meal, but one most often eaten between her and her family, from relatives distant to close among the greatest dining hall Hyrule castle had to offer. Flecks of parsley and basil, chunks of broth-soaked carrots and potatoes lay steaming in the mixture.

“It seemed fitting.” The elder said proudly. “I waited a long time to eat this dish again, I hope you enjoy it.” 

Zelda bit her tongue, for she had just had this dish last week, or so it felt. 

Regardless, it was just as delicious as it was the week previous.

Normally so polite as to eat at the pace of everyone around her, she couldn’t help herself but race to give her body the vital nutrients that the Shiekah resurrection chamber just couldn’t. Her aching body thanked her with the most euphoric rushes of warmth as she scarfed down the meal, paying little mind to the company trying to hide their sparkling awe-filled gazes. Once the bowl was completely empty, and after a call for seconds, she placed it down on the wooden table sitting in the center of the room, its porcelain  _ clack  _ was met with waiting gazes. 

“Forgive me for not introducing you sooner,” Sidon began, holding a fist to his mouth to clear his throat, and after placing an empty bowl of his own upon the table, he gestured to the freckled Zora sitting next to Impa’s granddaughter. “This is Kakariko’s scholar, Mona. There’s a scholar for every major province in Hyrule.” The small Zora girl’s back straightened to attention, and she stammered for something to say. “After we found ourselves trapped in our domain, the elder council, of which you’re most likely familiar with, decided to use our time to prepare for Hyrule’s reform.”

Mona stared at her like one would a priceless artifact, a nervous glance that put even the anxiety riddled Paya next to her to shame.

“A teacher, hm?” Zelda’s studious and politely political cadences returned to her like a lovingly worn glove. 

“Yessum.” Mona spoke quickly with her head in a half-bow.

“Quite a stressful job, methinks.” The princess tried her best to match her body language with the girl, to calm her addled nerves. It was none other than Urbosa who had taught her that little trick, and she had found herself using it among many who were obviously nervous to speak with her.

The girl locked eyes with the princess, and she shook her head. 

“Not at all. It’s an honor. It's the happiest I’ve been in my life.” The sparkle of adventure, a youthful truth shown in the girls eyes lifted her drowsy spirits. “After Link came to help us, everyone was eager to leave the domain.” 

Zelda glanced over at the Hylian next to her, and smiled at the familiar way she’d hide her blushing face, yet now she had her hair untied from its usual ponytail.

"It wasn't just me, Sido- ah!" 

"Certainly not!" In a swift movement, Sidon pulled Link close to him by her side. "I simply would not have let her go alone! After helping me make some of those lightning bolts, she rode on my back, and we tamed the beast together!"

The once shy Hylian looked up at this towering Zora prince like she was gazing at a deity, with such pride and love that it shook more of the princesses' memories free.

That was the very same look Zelda would give to Urbosa. She could remember a week prior, spending a weekend relaxing in the company of Gerudo town's chieftain. She recalled that question, the one she often heard from the Lady ring out in her quarters.

" _ Don _ **_'_ ** _ t you get tired of watching me fill out boring forms, little bird?"  _

_ Not in the slightest, Lady Urbosa.  _

Zelda mouthed the words to herself, as if the chieftain were right in front of her to hear them. How hard it was to grasp such a horrible reality without her.

Ah, she so hated when she called her Lady Urbosa. Which is precisely why she did it so often, as picking on her was one of the best ways to get her to crack that wonderful smile.

Zelda felt a warm tear fall down her cheek, and quickly rubbed the sleeve of her white cotton shirt to her face. Even the dutifully knit fabric felt rough against her puffy red cheeks, raw from rubbing her hands against the dark circles surrounding her eyes. 

Link, for just a moment, rested her head against the prince’s side. She looked happier than she ever did as her bodyguard. Zelda knew not what to make of this, and found herself tied amongst her own thoughts as the scholar on the other side of the table spoke to her. But even as this kind-voiced scholar spoke, Zelda realized something. There’s a reason that look Link gave to the tall prince was just a  _ bit  _ more than friendly. 

_ Oh dear. They sit so close to one another. He...or rather, she is so entranced by him...could it be?  _

_ Those two are? Is the prince courting her? Oh my, what a strange reality I have awoken in. _

The princess couldn’t help the smile that attacked her lips, and it was then that she noticed the confused expression that washed over the scholar on the other side of the table. Zelda could see that confusion tied the small Zora from speech, the kind of expression that wordlessly asked  _ “Did I say something funny?”  _

“Pardon,” the princess began, hiding a smile behind a hand and a fake cough, “could you repeat that for me?” 

“Ever since, I’ve been here in Kakariko. It was yesterday that I visited the four corners.” 

Sidon nearly choked, and firmly tapped his chest as he cleared his throat. 

“You used the room?”

“The room?” Zelda inquired. 

Mona nodded, not doing much to pull her attention from Zelda, even in the midst of Prince Sidon’s worried questioning.

“Paya went in before I did. I went to Rito village, while Renno and Dorian went to Gerudo and Hateno.” The scholar took a moment to gather her thoughts, setting down a pen she was playing with between her fingers, and locked eyes with the Princess. “It’s um...its a room that takes you to other parts of the realm, in chambers just like this one, but smaller.”

Zelda leaned forward, her curiosity flared . In her recollections of the futuristic Shiekah texts and technology, she easily recalled being there to witness the unearthing of three of the four Divine beasts, save for Vah Rudania, that of which was far too volatile for Hylian-kind to go near as it was surrounded by the bubbling lava pits nearest Death Mountain. After those groundbreaking discoveries, the princess even went so far as to bestow Ruta to Princess Mipha directly, an impromptu ceremony of sorts found her unofficially swearing Mipha in as its pilot. 

But, a room that takes you to other rooms in the four corners of the realm? It didn’t seem outlandish, not by the standards set by the mystical Divine Beasts at all.

“I’ve never read of anything like that.” She mused aloud, perplexed. “Certainly, ancient tomes speak of instantaneously moving from place to place by way of  _ magic _ , but... just like the talk of all mystics, it faded away as time moved on from the beginning of creation.”

“Did you know about any of  _ this? _ ” Mona asked as she gestured around her, to the circuit lined walls that pulsated with blue neon light.

“No,” She mumbled, eyes following the circuits. “I’m afraid this village is new to me as well.”

“After Link and Prince Sidon said they were going to kill Ganon, we knew it-...it would get bad, s-so we tried to g-g-...g-” Zelda watched as Mona’s caring hand rested on Paya’s shoulder, and loosened her words and visibly tensed muscles. “Mona, Dorian and Renno tried to get everyone she could who didn’t have shelter, from Rito village to Gerudo town, while I w-watched over Kakariko.” 

“That’s where you found the Gorons.” Sidon said with his hand resting on his chin. 

Mona shook her head no, and a small frown flashed on her face. 

“They had actually gotten here yesterday, we just didn’t have enough time to t-tell you. Bokoblins tried to come into Impa village, and nearly raided K-Kakariko. A Moblin even collapsed grandmother’s shrine...”

Impa shook her head, a more content face accompanied an energetic laugh. 

“But no one was hurt, dear. You both did well. Buildings can be rebuilt, people cannot.” It was then that Zelda’s eyes scanned over to a corner of the room, where hastily moved-in items lied. Among the scattered scrolls and old tapestries was the familiar, slightly curved sheathed blade, the very same sword Impa was instructed to use to protect her father, gifted to her by the Royal blacksmith. Impa never could get the hang of it, always preferring weapons she could easily keep hidden. 

Again, her interest piqued.

Did the elders’ granddaughter hold similar skills in battle? 

“Speaking of which, we should go and see how bad it is. Hateno got raided pretty badly, the Domain had to have taken a beating.”

“Let me come along with you.”

Link took on a worried look at her interruption, and before she could interject, Zelda assured her with a polite smile. 

"If I am to be the Queen of Hyrule, I must become familiar with the state of my land." This righteous, assured tone steeled Links worry, even stern enough to widen the eyes of the people around her. It felt so terribly bitter to call herself the Queen of Hyrule, yet, perhaps the sooner she tried to fit herself into those shoes, the easier it would be to fill them.

"You wish to go to Gerudo, do you not?" The prince asked, leaning on an arm near Link.

"Yes, and any other places that I can survey." 

"I bring it up because I, just like Mona, cannot go to Gerudo town."

Zelda shrugged her chain mail in line with her shoulders. 

"I can make the trip in my own company, th-" 

"No, no you can not, dear heart." Zelda's attention was drawn to Impa, who looked like a disappointed parent. “I’m sorry, but you’ll need to be escorted.” Such stern parental care felt nice, in a way, that no-nonsense tone that she had heard from the eldest handmaidens in her father’s company. The princess nodded in defeat, and her eyes drifted to her champion. 

Link looked exhausted. Her dirty clothes were wrinkled and frayed, her eyes sunk with bags matching the princesses own stress. 

“Let me e-...escort you, Princess Zelda.” Paya’s nervous smile pulled Zelda’s attention. She looked less disheveled, but not by much. Her hair, clearly supposed to have been tied in a neat bun, was loosely resting against her head, the ends sticking out wildly in protest of their constraints. “We can g-g...we can go to Gerudo and meet back up with Mona, Prince Sidon, and Link afterwards.” Zelda’s heart sank slightly at the prospect of being escorted by someone she barely knows, yet Paya’s intentions seemed so genuine. She was dead set on the task in question, her hands balled into fists under her flowing robe’s dirtied sleeves. 

“Are you certain?” Zelda asked.

“Yeah, Paya, I can take her, I wouldn’t mind at all.” Paya looked to Link, and shook her head, swallowing a visible amount of anxiety. It was obvious to Zelda that more than one set of eyes on the elder’s granddaughter at a time made her nervous, yet she looked determined to do such a task. 

“You’ve dealt with much, very r-re-recently. Allow me this, please.”

Link nodded after a few seconds of eye contact, her shoulders relaxing. 

“We will not be long...I only plan to inform the standing Gerudo Lady of the possibility of a coming rally, perhaps also to assess how different everything seems.”

“Not an unwise idea.” Sidon smiled as he spoke. “I take it you wish for the domain to do the same?” Zelda nodded, a plan forming like a rolling snowball in her head. 

“Anyone who wishes to come forth. I do not expect perfection, but, if the calamity was as horrific as I’ve been led to believe, I may need some help rebuilding my castle.” 

“Certainly! Our masons have had one hundred years to perfect their craft!” Sidon cheerily said.

“Kakariko has its woodworkers.” Link added, before being followed up by Mona. 

“And I think most of the Goron population is in Impa village right now, they know their stonework.” Zelda felt a smile hike up her cheeks, and she nodded sleepily. Perhaps this won’t be so awful. 

“I appreciate all of your input, I truly do. If we could speak more on it in the morning, I would very much like some time to rest.” Zelda watched as Link leaned over and plopped against Prince Sidon’s side. 

“Me too.”

“It’s barely evening, but I tend to agree." Sidon stared at the ceiling above as he drew in a long yawn. "I’m exhausted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know my story jumps around a lot between characters, and I know it can seem a lil sloppy, but jeez I love writing it, so I hope you enjoy reading it. 
> 
> I love you all. like a lot c:


	38. An aversion to dead things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zelda prepares for a long day of playing catch up with the rest of Hyrule alongside her guardian for the day, Paya.  
> Speaking of whom, what's got her so...quiet?

Zelda stepped out of the cramped but comfy abode that Impa called her home, just as she turned heel to her left to find her own room, down the long street tightly hugged by buildings on either side, she saw the loudly whispering crowd of people at its end. It was a bit unnerving, to see all of their eyes glistening at the end of the halls, illuminated by both neon blue light and flickering hope, their clothes tattered and damp, and she could hear their excitable whispers reach a peak as she exited the elders home. Perhaps some of them were related to those who survived the Calamity. In any case, she’s been recognized. 

The idea of isolating herself would usually have her at wits end. She'd spent her entire life in the company of at least one person at all times, or so it seemed. A handmaiden by her bedside to fold recently cleaned laundry for her as she tended to whatever matters needed attended to at her own desk, or Link around in long shifts to follow her around the halls of her castle and literally anywhere else, most places of which were bustling with servants and acquaintances of her family. There wasn't so much as passing seconds of loneliness in between her times of sleeping and waking, yet she found herself reveling in the feeling she got as she walked into her new quarters away from the prying eyes of the population of Impa village, who had quickly become privy to her arrival.

“ _ How am I to sleep in this _ ?” She thought aloud, flashes of the crowd just outside her room poked at her mind, made her feel claustrophobic in the same way those large family meetings with her father that included three quarters of Hyrule castle's population did.

She wrestled with the surprisingly heavy chainmail that laid over her undershirt, its ends tugging at her garment with its hook-like links, before dropping it down to the ground with a  _ thunk _ . She stretched, her neck stiff and her joints rigid.

There were several small knocks against the doorway as Zelda settled herself down onto her bed, making stress-filled pins run from her fingers to her toes. She sighed, and put on her most politely annoyed tone.

“I’d like to be left be, kindly!” Zelda was taken aback as the quiet voice of Paya barely penetrated the wall between them. 

"I w-want to g-g-give you something!" 

There was a pause as Zelda had to calm her nerves.

"Come in."

Entering the room, the blue door giving way to her robed form, the nervous girl set something down from her arms; a bundle of folded clothes was laid neatly on the table nearest her bed. 

"I have a lot of e-e-extra robes." She sputtered nervously. "I assume we a-a-...are the same size, even if I am a lll-little taller, I think." 

Zelda gave her an assuring smile, and stood to meet her gaze.

"Ah, thank you." She chuckled as she spoke, letting loose a sigh of relief. "These undergarments are getting quite itchy, so, I do appreciate you."

"Of course, Q-Qu..Queen Zelda." Zelda flinched, not expecting those words to affect her the way that they did.

She could not inherit such a title so quickly, not yet, as it would feel too...unfitting. 

"Ah, just call me Zelda for now, if you would." 

The elder's granddaughter nervously wrung her hands at her waist.

"Are you s-sure?"

"I never did allow Link to refer to me as royalty, and since you are to be my guard tomorrow morning, I wish for you to do the same." Stern words were spoken sweetly, with a smirk of knowing that got the nervous girl to return with a look of relief.

"It's nice t-t...to f-finally meet you, Zelda."

"The feeling is mutual, Paya." She said this as she strode over to her new clothing, a cream colored robe with a metal belt in the shape of a Shiekah eye to cuff around her midriff. It looked as though it would fit like a glove, save for it being a bit too tall for her. "Go on, get some proper rest, I wish to leave before the sand grows too hot tomorrow morning, and you do look quite exhausted."

With a smile, her head ducking in a bow, she awkwardly chuckled out her words.

"I-I am. I hope you sleep well, too. Good night, Zelda." 

"Have pleasant dreams." The girl wore not a nervous smile, but a genuine one as she politely walked out of her quarters, and Zelda was left to study the garment she had been provided.

Anything was better than that yellowing old shirt, coupled with brown trousers typical of standard Royal Hylian infantry. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't exactly recall putting any of this on. She remembered looking for her father, escorted by a few Shiekah guards who generally stood post by the gates, but that was it. 

That still-damp shirt was so intensely nice to slip off. The pattern of the stitching had been pressed up against her skin for so long that it left reddish lattice-shaped marks across her torso, and peeled off of her like its very own layer of skin.

She winced in pain as the trousers did the same. The room may have been low-lit by that neon blue light, but it was apparent how red with irritation her whole body was, the two colors meeting in the middle, giving her skin a purplish hue.

Luckily, the robe was like a free fitting, silky hug, completely soft and free from any rejuvenating waters her previous garments had been soaking in.

_ Rejuvenating waters. _

That night, the two Shiekah men destroyed that wall and led her to the healing bed, the same one her and her excavation team discovered right in the middle of Hyrule field, where she assumed they put Link.

She sighed as she laid down, the slab of stone was only made bearable by the pillow she was given to lay her head on. Even if a lot of Gerudo culture would often carve seats and tables out of unforgiving sandstone, they at least knew how to craft a half decent bed.

They put her into stasis as a last ditch effort, talking about the castle's collapse, talking about how they were currently cornered by those...crawling monstrosities that destroyed houses with their singing beams of red light. If she closed her eyes, she could see her people being cut down like twigs by those beams in the back of her eyelids, she could smell the burnt hair and smouldering woodwork taking over the pleasant smells of baked bread and flowers in her own city.

She grasped at her skull, intrusive thoughts of that horrible day came upon her like a shadowy bedfellow to watch over her as she writhed in its influence.

In irony, it was her own idea to dub them the Guardians. It was a month or so prior to the Calamity, a bit after the first excavation effort to unearth Naboris, when the head archaeologist alerted her of something... _ strange,  _ found deep within the loose sandstone ground. The head of one of those things, powered on with an innocent enough looking blue light in a marble-shaped eye, its conical head turned like a spyglass. As soon as its limbs were freed enough, it pulled itself from the loose rock and trekked undeterred by the yelling of the excavators, undeterred by the galloping of horse hooves to stop it from standing itself in the very front of Hyrule castle’s bridge, unmoving. Unmoveable.  _ Guarding  _ like a well trained Hylian hound. Against her gut feeling, she saw them as integral to assisting where the Divine beasts could not, and ordered the rest to be freed from the ground as the team continued to come across them, and they lined across the castle's walls to fulfil their most prime directive, their only designed intuition; to protect Hyrule from Ganon.

_ Enough of this.  _

Her aching mind, racked with guilt and the thrumming pain her crying fits had brought her skull ignored all calls for ceasefire. She begged with herself, for that animalistic pain to slow, which only quickened her pulse and tensed her muscles. Falling to sleep felt less like embracing an old friend, less like a time to reflect on one's day through colorful dreams, and more like slowly sinking into a pit of bugs, warping in any direction those blackened thoughts cared to mould her.

It was a slow blink; a night of surprisingly dreamless sleep caused her eyes to open. Perhaps her mind pitied her enough to give her such a mercy, perhaps the night prior she was so overloaded with thoughts and emotions too volatile to wish to confront, her brain could not handle anymore, and it simply stopped with all the firmness of an exhausted steed. 

She lifted herself to a sitting position, and as she always did, she mentally evaluated her checklist of the day's events.

There was so little to evaluate, however. So much more was now left up to uncertainty, that of which brought her immediate unease. The thought of taking up such a mantle of responsibility as queen churned her stomach before she even had a chance to leave her bed. 

After a few minutes of meditation and standing to perform her morning stretches, she hesitated at the doorway for a moment before passing through its threshold. Her hair felt like it was forced stuck in all directions from sleeping so deeply, and with no mirror to properly assess the damage, she was left with frayed and cowlicked hair, along with a creased and slept-in set of fine robes. 

" _ Simply marvelous _ ." She whispered angrily at herself as she turned left through the opened blue door, the street was empty with the townspeople still audible in the middle of Impa village. It was nice to get one more moment of peace before she would have to inevitably address countless survivors with promises of rebuilding Hyrule from the ground up. 

It was so hard to even conceive that it had crumbled in the first place, this was all happening so quickly.

“Ex-excuse me.” 

Zelda flinched, an embarrassing yip caught her throat as she swung around to meet the apologetic gaze of Paya, standing outside her door. She held her hand over her beating heart and held back any irrational impulses to scold the innocent girl. 

“Oh I a-apologize!”

"Goodness me, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" 

The elder's granddaughter stammered for something to say, a crimson shade overtook her cheeks.

"Why are you standing outside my quarters?" 

"I'm supposed t-..to be your guard today, aren't I?" Zelda gave the girl a glance from head to toe. She'd clearly bathed, the dirt that sullied her fingernails was cleaned, and her hair was pulled neatly into a silvery bun, meticulously kept in place with two thin wooden rods. In this light, her resemblance to her grandmother was uncanny. What caught her eye most of all, however, was the sword hilt she so casually rested her hand upon, almost in stark juxtaposition to her shy demeanor.

"Yes, but by the eight, I did not expect you to stand post!" She glanced behind her, and leaned with a quietly concerned tone. "How long have you been outside of my quarters?" 

Paya shifted in her sandals.

"An hour at most."

The princess relaxed, and gave another quick look behind her. 

"And the others?"

"Link and Prince Sidon slept in the Zora Domain, and Mona went to retrieve them so they may begin surveying Hyrule."

If Zelda wasn't mistaken, there was a slight melancholy tone to her voice, as if all of that fear and anxiety from the previous day had morphed into an exhausted spirit. With that she could empathize. 

"Well, then. Shall we get going?" Zelda began walking, but Paya quickly moved to meet her stride, her sandals clacking against the empty street.

"I had made breakfast an hour earlier. It's still warm, if you'd like to eat before we begin traveling?" 

Zelda scrunched her nose, knowing how...interesting Shiekah cuisine tended to be.

"Forgive me for having a particular palette, but, do you mind me asking what it is?"

"Congee. With eggs, and cured pork."

Rice porridge. Zelda was very particular in regards to overly offending smells and flavors, and congee was probably the least offending dish she could think of.

"That does sound lovely."

As she was led into Impa's shrine, the elder's expression brightened, and her back straightened on the pedestal she sat upon, facing a table sitting in the middle of the room. It was warm, an open pot of recently picked apart food was sitting in the middle of the table. 

"My, how was your first rest in a century?" Impa asked, her little hands politely sitting on her knees. 

It was a breath of fresh air to hear her father's old guard regard her with such excitement, a family friend who hadn't seen her in years. In the same vein, though, it was odd to begin to see her as an elder figure when she'd just seen her younger self what felt like a few days ago. 

"It was...an awfully hard bed." She admitted, "But it was indeed a proper rest. Thank you for lending me those quarters." 

Impa waved a hand weakly as Zelda sat herself opposite the square shaped table, and she saw Paya do the same to the left of her.

"Ah, I haven't had a bed that good in ages. My back is straighter than it has been in twenty years! But, I digress, the room is yours to do with as you please, my dear. Come, take the rest of this food." 

Paya reached over and handed the tired girl a bowl of warm congee. After treating the porridge with just a bit of flaky salt, it proved to be more than a filling breakfast as they conversed.

"How is Kakariko as it stands, Lady Impa?"

"Standing," The elder laughed, "which is all I could hope for after a quake like the night before last. A few felled trees, a few un-built homes that need to be re-built, it's all work that my people are more than capable of fixing." 

"Speaking of which," Zelda began sheepishly. "In regards to Hyrule castle, how many carpenters wish to…"

"Volunteer?" She croaked, her lips pulled into a denture filled smile. "You could ask every one of those workers and they'd all lend their hands. Building Hyrule castle would be an honor above many."

"But who should I speak to?" Zelda asked.

"The big fellow, Renno. He's the largest man in Kakariko, it's hard to miss him." The elder took a sip of tea from a ceramic white cup before continuing. "He organizes general carpentry and repair, most likely helping rebuild my home to a more, heh, reasonable level above water!"

Zelda glanced over at Paya, who faked a smile towards her, and stammered herself out of an apparent daydream.

"If you w-wish, we could do that first." 

"I'll inform him of what I have in mind so far, but, even that amount leaves much to be desired." Zelda nodded, a small smile given to the elder's granddaughter. This gesture was not returned with a smile, but an awkward darting of the eyes to her own knees.

Impa patted her hands on her lap.

"Let's hear what you do have, dear heart."

Zelda cleared her throat.

"Well, I hardly think we could go through with it today, but after all's said and done with ensuring everyone's safety, I'd like the leaders of each corner to appear for a rally somewhere safe, perhaps nearest Hyrule fields. The goal is to spread the news of my return, of Hyrule castle's reform, so that we can procure a team to begin building."

"Ahead of the curve as always, you always were a quick thinker." The elder said sweetly.

"Ah, It's the only thing I can really think about, to be quite honest." She mumbled, fighting the urge to anxiously bite her nails. "No one in my extended family survived? Not even the ones I don't legally share any relation to?" 

The elder frowned.

"Not a thread of royalty, dear. Not a soul from your father's court survived. If I recall correctly, not soon after the Calamity I'd heard that the only folk from Hyrule castle town that survived were the ones closest to the Towns' doors. They simply...fled to parts less habited as the assault took place."

Zelda shivered. She pictured moving aside rubble and ruin, finding burn-scarred paintings and busted bed posts just to uncover bones from people she once considered close. 

"I know it must be a lot to take in. I may have had a hundred years, but… time will help." Zelda flinched and nodded, trying to shake the thoughts from her mind. 

"Are the schematics still in the Domain's possession?"

Zelda didn't expect to see Paya looking so... _ sad,  _ just before she had a chance to put on another indifferent smile and a nod.

"They're…" She stood up to her feet, and after rifling through the stacks of books and papers in relative silence, she produced a parchment and string bound package of pages from the mess. "Here. T-this has most of the documents, there are more in the domain, so I hear, but hopefully that is enough."

Zelda blinked, and her urge to ask the girl what was the matter heightened. She had been so kind and optimistic when she entered Zelda's quarters the night before, yet, now she looked...defeated, for lack of a better term. Zelda undid the string and pulled from the package the old pages, the smell of aged books hit her with nostalgic memories of going through the archives of Hyrule castle as a child.

"Copied treaties, trade agreements,  _ ah, schematics."  _ She isolated the folded pages of the castle's inner workings, and confirmed with a quick look the blueprints of Hyrule castle. "This will do. Can this information be trusted in Renno's possession?" 

"Of course, dear." 

Zelda scanned through the collection of pages that detailed the castle's planning, the end of which held a signature from both her father and her mother. Wincing, she quickly folded the pages back, and held them all between her fingers. 

"I'll have a word with him, then." She glanced toward the elder's granddaughter. "Shall we?" 

"Yes, Zelda." 

She caught Impa looking on her granddaughter proudly as she stood to her feet, watching Paya affix her sword to her side.

"You be careful. The realm will be more than happy to see you, so I can't promise you you won't get...more attention than you're used to."

Zelda nodded knowingly, remembering the whispers of onlookers just outside her door the night before. 

"I experienced a taste of what's to come just last night. It's nothing I cannot handle. I appreciate your hospitality, Lady Impa."

"I appreciate your return." The elder spoke with glistening eyes in the bluish light. "You were not just needed as a leader, you were missed as a dear friend." 

Zelda's heart fluttered in her chest, and with this feeling of acceptance and relative familiarity, she bowed to the elder as if her words were a gift.

"I will be back to catch up with you."

Paya pressed the hand-shaped panel to the doorway, and stood waiting patiently in the frame.

"You're always welcome here, dear. Oh, and if you could, tell the masons that they can live here if they so choose, I had a section of the village quartered off just for them."

Zelda smiled and nodded.

"I'll do just that."

"Paya, do you mind if I ask a rather personal question?" 

The girl looked confused and a little worried as the door re-materialized behind her, and she took the lead towards the entrance to Kakariko.

"N-n...no, I don't m-m...mmind at all." 

Her stammering told her otherwise, but she pressed further with her curiosity. 

"Hrm, well, are you...alright?" 

She hid from her gaze, as if that were a question she did not wish to be asked.

"Is...i-is it my s-...my s-stutter?" 

"No of course not!" She leaned forward to try to get a look of her blushing and emotion devoid expression as they walked. "You haven't said as much as you did the night previous. Last night you seemed in high spirits, but today, you're markedly different." 

"I-Im sorry." 

"No, do not apologize!" She chuckled frustratingly. "Actually, I am the one who should be apologizing. I had a habit of prodding Link whenever he... _ she  _ was being more distant than usual. If you don't wish to speak of it, I will not prod." 

There was a silence as they walked on the grooved street to the main road of Impa village, the sound of people still speaking in hushed voices became audible. 

"T-thank you." She said sadly, a confirmation of her wish to be left with her worries was like a punch to Zelda's gut, and she held back apologizing profusely. Turning the corner, she beheld the proper scope of the village. What she saw before her was a main street among many branching from its sides. It was similar to Castle Town in that the majority of the village branched off of this one area, in the same way that the road encircling the fountain of her village was to this large street, surrounded by pristine stone pillars and flowing flags with the Shiekah symbol imprinted on them. 

It was all roughly half of the size of Hyrule Castle town, but still large nonetheless, it was complete with such curiously shaped buildings peppered throughout, and a lovely fountain sculpted by the old goddesses of Hyrule surrounded by people. It would have been such a marvel to behold, as was all of the wonderous things she had helped unearth with her archaeologists, but she found herself eyed by all walks of life, from Hylian children huddled around their mothers, to Gerudo standing tallest among the crowd, to Goron, dirt caked on their stony bodies tracked onto the ground as if they just returned from their village. 

All of them grew quiet, dreadfully so, and it hit Zelda like a spear through her stomach. Paya's presence stilled her enough to further her steps among them, walking beside her guard with her papers gripped tightly under her arm. Just as she had many times recently, she felt like an antiquity, like an old artifact to be ogled at. 

True, she was no stranger to staring onlookers, used to being pointed out by people of her own town like a walking celebrity, but this was so entirely different. Everyone was painfully silent as she walked by them, she could smell the earthy scent of the wilds on their clothes, she could  _ feel  _ their excitement and it rippled her skin with goosebumps. The silence was so nerve wracking that it bordered on nausea-inducing.

_ Just walk. Smile if you must. Do not speak a word.  _

Even if she did want to say anything, her throat was coiled shut.

The two approached the stairwell at the opposite end of the village, a gigantic set of stairs leading up to the surface, which appeared to her as a blinding dot of light. 

If someone wanted to, they could  _ still  _ convince her she was dead, and this was the world between afterlife proper. She gave her leg muscles a trial run, the burning was matched only by the blinding, dull pain of her eyes adjusting to daylight for the first time in so long. The blues were never quite as vibrant as they were to her then, as the cloudless sky left all of it open for her, and the waterfall that fell into Lantern Lake spewed a misty rainbow over the crew of Shiekah people pulling debris from Impa’s old home out of the waters.

She was in a daze at the sight of Kakariko. The only difference from the last time she saw it was the addition of even more housing, but the village overall was still the same.

“Just as the day I left it.” She said in surprise. 

”We d-d-don’t change things t-too often around here. I’ll i-introduce you to Renno.” Paya said timidly, a rather neutral expression shown on her face. 

The people of the village quickly realized who was among them, and they, just as the people in the subterranean village below her, began to look at her in awe.

_ Greetings must be done later,  _ she thought to herself, approaching the lake. The steps of her boots fell soft against the malleable damp soil, the smell of cherry blossoms and smoke filled her nostrils and brought with it some faint sense of calm. This place was real to her, grounded and natural. Familiar. It waited for her like Impa did, like Link did. 

Renno was easy to spot among the others. Not only was he the largest man among the masons who helped pull reddish wooden beams out of the lake, but he was boisterously shouting orders as he helped the lot of them pull. 

“Yeah, just set it...here!” He bellowed, wiping wet hands on his dirtied robes. “ _ Whew _ , looks like we have a bonfire to look forward to, don’t we?! Hey Reede, can yo-” 

“P-pardon, Renno.” Paya tapped him on the sleeve, and he swung around to face her. 

His white hair was slicked back, kept up with a tie. His eyebrows were expressive, large thick silvery arches gave an inquisitive look before his confused eyes fell on Zelda. 

“Wo...woah.” He mumbled dumbly.

“This is Z-Zelda. Zelda, t-tthis is Renno.”

Zelda cleared her throat, and held out a hand for her new acquaintance to shake. 

“A pleasure to meet you. I was told you are Kakariko’s leading carpenter.” After a moment of silence between them, he took her gesture extremely carefully, eyeing her much like the rest of Kakariko did, like a poe. His hand was soaked, and she winced internally as he took hers and shook it.

“I-... yes, I am.” He said, scratching above his eyebrow, beads of sweat and lakewater on his forehead. 

Zelda wiped her hand on her arm.

“I have a proposition for you and the rest of your team.” She produced the papers from under her arm, and hesitated to place them in his wet hands. Instead, she just unfolded the pages, and held them out for him to see. 

“This is a copy of my castle's schematics. The town, the towers, all of it save for what few plots of land business owners had bought after this schematic was fabricated. I'm hoping to acquire a team to begin rebuilding, from all corners of Hyrule, so that we can establish ourselves once again." 

Rennos brow shot up in surprise, and his eyes widened as Zelda folded the plans back up.

"You're asking me to help build Hyrule castle?"

His confusion and surprise melted into a gigantic smile as Zelda nodded quickly. 

"Indeed I am." She smiled at his contagious joy. "I would like someone with...drier hands, to take this parchment for me, however." 

Renno's smile fell away.

"Oh, of course." He wiped his hands on his robes, which were also just as damp, much to his own frustration. He cupped a hand around his mouth and yelled out.

" _ Hana! I need a hand out here!"  _ He looked back to Zelda and his exhilarated expression returned. "I can't tell you how much of an honor this is." The joy in his voice raised Zelda's spirits like a rallying cry, and she gave him a genuine, appreciative smile.

"Heeey!" A young voice rang out, and in bounded a short, glasses wearing Shiekah girl from across the village. She had soot and sweat on her face, that of which was smeared by her overly-bandaged hands. "What do you ne-..." She looked up at Zelda, her eyes studied the princess like a statue. "Oh you're!!- Are you?!" Her surprised face focused on Renno, and back to her. 

"This is Princess Zelda, Hana." Her father said nervously, and Zelda chuckled to herself at their shared shock. "This is my daughter, Hana." 

"A carpenter as well, I see?" Zelda asked amusedly, watching the girl try to wipe her soot clean from her cheeks.

Hana tried and failed to steel herself from excitement, and took a deep breath.

"Yeah! Well! I prefer smithing and carving but I can do a little handiwork! Hey WAIT why are you here?! Talking to my dad?!"

"She asked if we want to help build Hyrule castle!" He sounded just as dumbfounded as he looked, and wasn't surprised when Hana fell into hysterics.

"No WAY! REALLY?! THAT'S AWESOME! YES WE CAN DO THAT! You told her we can do that, right!?" 

Hana was momentarily hushed as Zelda held out the schematics for her to take.

"You can help too, if you'd like." Zelda giggled as the little girl let out an excited squeak, and lost herself in the details of the castle's schematics. "Impa pointed me in your direction, Renno, and I trust her judgement. I plan to meet in Hyrule field with everyone willing to attend. Not just carpenters. Traders, townsfolk, anyone, but any builder that wishes to help will report to you. Are you willing to accept that?"

"Yes! Yes yes yes!" Hana yelled, hopping up and down in front of her father, who simply placed his hand on her head as he nodded.

"Yes." He said sternly, his thick, expressive eyebrows showed intense appreciation. 

"You are aware that leading this could take two, three years of your time?"

"Aha, my life revolves around my hobbies! Same for this little caterpillar." He rubbed his large thumb against the top of his daughter's head. "We just got that workshop done!" He pointed over to a wooden home that stood out among the many Kakariko-style homes. "That's where we spend most of our time!"

"Yeah! If my dad isnt working he gets sad!" Renno could only respond with a shrug, and a guilty smile. 

"Eh, she's kinda right." 

Zelda smiled understandingly, watching the girl fold up the plans to her castle and slide them in her robes, underneath her black apron. She was such a young girl to be practicing dangerous arts such as smithing. 

"I'm much the same, I'm afraid. Speaking of which, I have many other errands to attend to. Let your crew and anyone who wishes to come along that I will be holding a rally tomorrow afternoon. Are there any landmarks in Hyrule Field that still...exist?"

"Mabe Village." Renno said before a rather sad sigh. "It's a memorial." 

Zelda's heart sank. Reality came crashing back to her in those moments where the facade of normalcy that busying herself gave her fell away.

"M-much of that whole  _ road  _ is a memorial. When I was young, grandmother often took me to the ruins of the Hylian Colosseum to teach me how to spar. P-p-perhaps that will work?" 

Zelda swallowed a lump of simmering anxiety in her throat, and looked again to the robed girl's sword. 

"Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea."

"I'll let my team know. Thank you, Princess Zelda. I'm not good with words, but, I appreciate this. I won't let you down."

"Neither will I!" The short girl chirped excitedly. Zelda had a soft spot for children, so this energetic tone itching for adventure pulled at her heartstrings. 

"Neither will she."

“Though my ideas for a new home for Hyrule are still in its infancy, it will be people like yourself who bring it into fruition, so. I believe I’m not the only one who should be thanked.” 

As the pair walked away, Zelda kept a keen ear out for Renno and Hana's discussion, speaking in hushed, excited whispers about the reform of Hyrule castle. She followed Paya down into the stairway, and heard the telltale evidence of Renno breaking the news of rebuilding. She took this as a sign of her doing things correctly, for in truth, she knew very little of what she was doing. Yes, she had been by her father's side to watch him perform many great feats of leadership, from knighting the standing commanders in his fleet, appointing strategists to his own battalion, and keeping the general political discourse between the four corners to a relative minimum, but she'd never had the opportunity for something so hands on until she personally undertook the role of head of the excavation effort of the divine beasts, that of which she found to feel quite natural to her. But with that experience, she only had a few months of work under her belt.

Zelda looked over at her companion, the half of her face she could see as she descended the stairs beside her showed just as much troubled silence as earlier. It was especially odd, being that Ganon had just been annihilated, that she would be so gloomy. 

“What do you remember of M-Mabe Village?” The shiekah girl asked sheepishly as they reached the bottom of the stairs, only to stop in her tracks at the sight of the crowd in the road. She held a robed arm out and motioned to her left. “Come, l-l-let’s go this way. Less crowded.” Before Zelda could respond, the girl turned to lead her down a thin road hugging the wall of the village. 

She savored this question in silence as they walked, not fully knowing how to open up about such a subject, not fully knowing how to open up in general.

“I-if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand."

“I would enjoy it, actually.” She sputtered, latching onto this chance to talk at length to the quiet girl. “I, well...it had similarities to Gatepost town and the Hyrule Army Garrison in that it was originally a place to settle our troops to stay on guard, but just like the others...it became a village of its own.” 

“I-I remember Grandmother telling me that when we visited it.” 

“Whenever Link and I took trips to Hateno, I would demand we halt so I could get a bottle of milk from their own ranch on the other side of the road and drink it on the way there. It was the freshest milk I’d ever had. Ah, you must have noticed my reaction when I heard it had become a memorial, did you not?” 

Zelda smiled sadly as Paya nodded, her hand resting on her swords hilt gripped it in empathy.

“It’s not that I was particularly close to anyone there, it is just...I remember their faces. I remember the owner of the ranch. I remember their whole ranch was filled with farm cats that loved to go over to Mabe Village and beg the shopkeepers for scraps of food.” Zelda paused as she mused, as touching these memories was like lighting a candle and putting her hand close to the flame. “Anyways...I appreciate that you asked. I wish you could have seen it. Are there any other places Impa would take you to visit?” 

Paya quickly wore a nervous smile as she thought.

“L-lake Hylia.” She began. “Grandmother tried to teach me how to fish how the Zora do.”

“Through spears and archery?” Zelda asked, smiling knowingly.

“Mhm. She would try to teach me how to shoot, but would g-g-get upset when she was the only one catching anything. She gave me a fishing rod not l-long after.” 

Zelda held back a laugh, and blushed behind her hand. 

“Oh, aha, I’m sorry, that's just...that’s awfully characteristic of Impa.”

“She was a very strict grandmother when I was young, but she i-is by all means my mother. I do not think she was perfect, but she was learning to raise me as I grew older.” Zelda nodded, and held back the urge to question her about her birth mother. Paya cracked her first smile Zelda had seen all day, and she beamed along with her. Paya’s smile felt to her like a victory, getting the same emotion she used to when she would get Link to smile when she was feeling particularly down.

“H-here we are.” Paya motioned to an opening in the wall to their left, a small step had to be taken to enter a strange, pipe filled room. It was dreadfully humid. “You are ready to e-...embark, yes?” 

Zelda was quiet for a moment as she took in her surroundings, looking around the glowing room as her mind pieced together what they were about to do, the reality of where they stood. A room that instantaneously transports one from one room to another. A bead of sweat fell on her cheek from her forehead as the heat of the room coupled with her own anxieties.

"I suppose I am." She spoke with worried wonder carrying her voice. The map of Hyrule Paya stood in front of was obviously topographically different from when she'd seen it last on the Shiekah slate. Hyrule Field was covered in pock marks, and an overgrowth of trees made it more akin to a sparse forest. The Lanyru wetlands took over the section of villages that used to stand at the feet of the Zora domain. She couldn’t pick apart much else in those moments, as Paya tapped a symbol in the barren Gerudo desert, and a flash of light overtook her vision. When her eyes opened, the map blinked green, and her eyes fixated on the northwestern section of the map as her other senses caught up with her. 

“W-we are just in front of Gerudo Town now.”

“Just like that?” 

The curious lilt in her question got a chuckle from the girl, and she pointed right in front of the entrance. 

“R-right here. Shall we go?” She stood aside from the step and gestured her through. After descending through the doorway, she noticed the sand that filled between the cracks in the floor, and expected to smell the desert along with it. The only thing she could make out was a faint  _ clean _ smell, like the wax the handmaidens used on her castles floors every other week or so. She didn't expect the source of the stench to be coming from a black, thin and rail-like mummy on her left, however, and her hair stood on end as she backed away from it. It was sat cross-legged, surrounded by stone tablets and shining coins, but she did not want to go close enough to examine it in further detail.

“O-oh, I’m sorry I didn’t w-warn you!” Paya said quickly, stumbling over her words as Zelda held a sleeve of her robe over her face. She sighed a deep breath into the clean fabric of her sleeve. 

"I…" Zelda stammered, speechless as her surprised expression watched on the motionless mummy from a distance. "I have a bit of an...aversion...to dead things, to simplify a complicated matter." 

"O-of course" Paya stammered, "Let's move quickly."

She walked next to Paya across this tall chamber, roughly the size of the Temple of Time, but all the more puzzling with its circuitry closely resembling the ones that lined the Divine Beasts. 

"A-again, I am so sorry I did not inform you be-before." The girl stood on a circular indentation in the ground and held out a hand next to her to invite Zelda to join her. 

"Ah, it's quite alright," Zelda began, her mouth still covered by her sleeve as she stepped onto the platform. "How were you meant to know? The only people who  _ do _ are Link and...well, my father." 

A dull silence fell between them, broken only by a hum and a gust of wind as they ascended upward on the circular lift. Zelda stumbled as they careened upward, and she took a deep breath and reassured her footing. The gravity of where she was headed broke a sweat on her palms. Would the abrasive desert welcome her back with its familiarity? Or would it hurt to look at, like a scar that couldn't quite heal correctly?

"I-I never could understand why we preserved our monks and elders like that." She offered.

"Some cultures do odd things to remember those they've lost, I just never assumed I'd bear witness to such an old…" she held her hand back over her mouth, and held back a wretch. "Apologies, I can hardly get a cut without becoming woozy." 

"Will y-you be alright in Gerudo town?"

Zelda chuckled behind her sleeve, and let her arm down at ease to show a reassuring, yet half-hearted smile. 

"Unless we come across any dead bodies, I should be alright." 

The elevator slowed, and revealed the blinding morning light of the Gerudo desert, bringing with it the earthy, sage scent of the sands, and it all came back to her.

Her body, her mind had yearned for this place in stasis for so long, the color of the sands and the cloudless, blazing skies welcomed her as she stepped out to absorb her surroundings. 

One hundred years did its job of eroding the intricacies of the cities' walls, where there were once prominent symbols deeply etched into the outer perimeter, words in Gerudo that spoke of peace and cohabitation against all odds had been worn down by a century of sand and wind. The height of the walls had crumbled, and whether time did this or the Calamity, she couldn't guess. Her eye caught over toward the east, toward the great wall of rock and stone that acted as canyons for the entrance of Hyrule Fields, and spotted Naboris perched atop a rocky mountain. 

Zelda's blood ran cold in the desert heat as she looked upon Urbosa's casket, nestled into its spot in the rocks, waiting. It was a mobile battlement housing unanswered questions and memories. She noticed that Paya was watching her expectantly, waiting for a reaction or a word.

The people of Gerudo town bustled from far away, loud enough to be heard from a distance, busy enough to be seen as they entered and exited through the guarded archway entrance.

"Let's go." She shielded her eyes from the sun with a hand, guarding herself from having to look near Naboris, and stepped through the golden sands beside her protector. The guards who stood in front of the gates watched the two as they approached, they held long, intricate spears with their hilts buried in the sand. Gerudo vai militant garb had changed, they wore wraps of white cloth around their arms and middles, their tops and sirwals were more traditionally accented with gold hemming and wavy designs, and as the guard to her left spoke, she realized how much their accents had changed as well.

"Well," She chuckled, her imposing voice caused Paya's shoulders to slump under their deep tone. "A Shiekah in Gerudo. What brings you so far from your side of the pond, pale koi?" The guard leaned on her spear, her tone and mannerisms were playful and harmless, but Paya struggled to produce an answer. 

"She is my bodyguard." The towering soldier was taken aback by Zelda's proper, commanding tone, and sized up Paya and her sword that rested on her side. 

"Ah, precious cargo. To what does Gerudo Town owe this pleasure?" 

"I am here to meet with your standing Chieftain." The guard smiled, amused.

“You are more than welcome to try, she has been quite busy. You two are a curious pair.” She looked at Zelda, studying her. “What are you, some sort of caravan leader?” 

“S-she is pri-” 

Zelda held out a hand, and stilled Paya from continuing her sentence. She practically thrived on the opportunity to go into Gerudo town without drawing too much attention. 

“You could say that. I knew the Chieftain would be busy, but it’s quite important.”

The Gerudo lady smiled and held a hand out to motion her in. 

“Come in, enjoy your visit, ladies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEEEEEEEEY im back in the swing of things. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you didn't catch it, I wrote a lil oneshot about middle aged Impa and baby Paya. Not super necessary to the story, but I enjoyed writing it c:
> 
> Also Sidlink will obv be back at some point, I'm just having too much fun with this bit of the story. 
> 
> I love you all c:


	39. I will see you tonight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How has Gerudo town fared throughout the years? Was it as resilient as Zelda expected it to be? Perhaps she will be able to keep her composure in the audience of the standing Gerudo chieftain.

Zelda and Paya pushed past the crowds undetected. This place was remote, a hotspot in the middle of nowhere with its people and its visitors alike not entirely privy to Zelda’s arrival. Maybe some knew, but perhaps many did not know what she looked like. The shops were numerous, more so than when she had visited last, with vendors peddling desert fruits and grains, from Rito to Gerudo sitting under comfortably the shades of their shops, to the jewelers who stood behind glass cases of intricate Gerudo bracers and necklaces, holding priceless jewelry that sparkled in the sun. It was so lively and inviting, the bustle of loud vendors and the groups of townsfolk trading information amongst themselves. She would normally be less inclined to put herself in hectic and loud situations like this, but Gerudo town never affected her in that way. She watched a group of sandseals crowd around their handler as they put on little performances for a group of traders, doing tricks for bits of hydromelon. It was a home away from home. 

“They r-really only allow women here, don’t they?”

Zelda smirked, and looked over at her guardian.

“What, did you think that was just a rumor?” 

Paya looked at her feet as they walked, and chuckled. 

“I’ve heard of i-it all my life, but n-n-never  _ really  _ thought about it. I cannot imagine Kakariko doing the s-same.” 

“It’s odd,” Zelda began, perusing the vendor’s selections curiously. “Gerudo voe are born so few and far between that some people don’t even believe they exist. Some are so adament in their ideals, that many Gerudo believe women are the fairer sex. Not allowing men inside is tradition." Zelda's eyes caught a familiar sight, and she chanced an off-beat question. "Do you by chance have any rupees?”

Paya squinted as she reached in her pocket, and produced a rupee bag. She pulled from it a blue rupee and confusedly handed it over to the girl.

“I b-brought what I have saved up, in case we’d need it” Zelda plucked the rupee from her hand, and prepared to show off her Gerudo speaking skills. She pointed down at a voltfruit, and spoke in Gerudo, asking the fruit trader who sat cross legged in the middle of the cloth that she sold upon if she could test how ripe it was. The trader, a vai with her face covered in a cloth and her hair tied up in a large pom showed great surprise at Zelda's fluent Gerudo. 

After conversing casually and testing the ripeness of various voltfruit, she settled on one just soft enough to eat at that very moment, and thanked the vendor for her kindness.

She found a spot to sit, a little carved stone bench a little ways away from too many people. A place to watch others, as she often liked to do.

“Sit with me.” She offered, beginning to peel back the outer layers of the volt fruit.

“What d-did you two talk about?” Paya asked.

“She was awfully surprised that a Hylian could speak the Gerudo tongue. She told me I sounded like her grandmother.” 

“W-well that sounds r-rude.” 

Zelda chuckled.

“I speak with an elder’s accent, I sound like the Gerudo did during Urbosa's age. She’s entirely correct, I sound like an old woman.” Zelda held out a little nugget of voltfruit, offering it to her with insistence. “Do try some, please.” 

Paya hesitated, and plucked the fruit from her hand. She bit into her own piece at the same time, savoring the tart fruit washing over her taste buds. 

“Oh! It is so s-s-sour!” 

Zelda giggled before pulling another piece off of the fruit.

“That’s why it’s called a voltfruit. It feels like your mouth is getting struck by lightning.” She held it between the two of them, and motioned to it. “Have some more, it gets sweeter as you get closer toward the middle.” She obliged, and pulled a piece free. 

Luckily they weren’t cultivated any differently in those one hundred years she was gone, the same sweet and sour flavor she was used to was prevalent throughout the fruit.

“H-how different is Gerudo Town? From wh-w-when you saw it last?” 

Zelda swallowed, and sighed as she reflected. 

“Much different. Trading was not so much done here as it was pushed outward of the town, all their crops were moved to Castle Town and the surrounding villages. This place is more business-centric than what it used to be.”

“What w-was it like before that?” 

Zelda smiled as she recollected her memories. 

“It was a place to immerse yourself in culture. To learn and to live in the moment. To decompress. The handmaidens in my company would often talk about coming here to be apart from their husbands, to get away from it all. I always thought it was a bit silly as a girl, but when I came here for the first time, I understood why. Urbosa set up so many provisions to further education of their culture, to push their people out into the mainland.” Zelda felt herself tearing up, and held her breath. 

She promised herself she wouldn't delve too deeply into those memories, as they would undoubtedly rip her to shreds.

“I u-understand if it is h-h-hard to think about. I imagine you remember much more than Link does, don't you?” 

Zelda sniffled, and tried to politely decline answering her question with an interjection. 

“Enough about me, tell me about yourself.” 

Paya was taken aback, and quickly fell silent, watching Zelda as she observed the bustling village they were surrounded by. 

“W-well there isn’t much to say. I am one of my grandmother’s main caretakers. I cook, clean, I d-do laundry.” She fell silent. She certainly wasn’t done yet, yes?

“And you fight, do you not?” 

Paya looked embarrassed under Zelda’s gaze, pausing from taking another bite of voltfruit. 

“Ah, yes. I-I do. I was raised to fight.”

Zelda quirked an eyebrow.

“By Impa herself?” 

Paya popped another bite of fruit in her mouth, and nodded. 

“I think she d-did it because it was one of the only w-ways she knew how to bond with someone.” 

“And you like it? Fighting?” She asked, getting a confused nod from the girl.

“I think I could have been treated more nicely, if t-t-that’s what you are asking.” 

Zelda frowned, and kept her judgements inward. She sympathized, in a way, as her father did everything in his power to raise her in ways that would suit his personal image of her. 

“She’s become s-so much nicer, and still apologizes for how strict she was with me. S-she still likes to give me my fair amount of sass when I am too s-self critical. When she heard I w-would be protecting you, s-she cried a lot.”

Zelda’s brow furrowed, and she frowned sadly. 

“Oh, my. Is she worried for your safety?” 

Paya shook her head.

“She is p-proud of me. I made her v-very happy. She said that I just k-keep giving her more reasons to smile throughout her life.”

Zelda smiled, but this only brought her more questions. If such a wonderful thing had happened the previous night, why was she so sad this morning? Even her gloom had carried over to Gerudo town, she always spoke with tired eyes and a sad lilt to her voice. It took so much in her to not prod further as to why, but her curiosity and worry burned. 

“Well,” She began, “I'm more than happy for you to be my temporary guard. However,” She cleared her throat, and made sure she had her full attention. “For the knights in my army, and those who stand to defend Hyrule kingdom, psychological wellness is tantamount to physical. Any time you fight for me, I wish for you to speak out if you are ever less than your best. This is not a suggestion, it is an order.” 

Zelda smiled as she waited for her guard’s response. 

“I-I appreciate that, Princ-...thank you, Zelda.” 

Zelda cursed in her own head, wishing that would have just  _ worked  _ to get her to open up. 

She had a tendency to do this with Link as well. When she would be particularly quiet, or avoided eye contact for too long, Zelda would prod and poke until Link would come out and say what bothered her. It was like this  _ itch  _ she had to scratch that wouldn't be satisfied until she made the person who hurt feel better.

“Let’s not tarry, the line will get too long.” 

The early morning Gerudo town still bustled with people, the line she’d feared would be long extended just outside the Gerudo army's training center, the interior of which having sustained many more spear marks than she remembered, and the stairs that coiled up and against the wall leading to the Chieftains great hall were worn with age.

“Looks as if we’ll be here for an hour, or so. Is that acceptable?” She asked Paya, who stood closely next to her, as if she had a choice. The place was absolutely packed.

“I d-d...d-...” 

Zelda furrowed after her stuttering took longer than usual. Paya looked more and more flustered, and finally leaned in to whisper something in Zelda’s ear. 

“I s-stutter m-m-more when I am around people I am not used to.” 

“Are you too nervous?” Paya shook her head, before leaning forward and making an 'o-k' sign with her hand. 

"I will be o-okay."

"Only if you are sure. If it makes you feel any better, I've my fair share of nerves as well." Paya smiled awkwardly. "I've never so much as looked at any of these folk either, so we are in this one together."

This did little to soften her guard's nerves. 

"That's...not entirely why," Zelda began, "I'm just nervous to meet this town's chieftain." Perhaps there was enough genuineness in her voice to spark Paya's intrigue, because she cocked her head.

She took this as a question why, to which Zelda did not wish to give the whole truth to. 

"Erm, first meets with leaders have a tendency to...worry me, in a manner of speaking." She flinched internally, her lie was transparent as a film of ice, but Paya didn't question it. 

They didn't talk much as the line dwindled ahead of them and filled up behind them, and Zelda began to hear the ruler's voice, higher pitched than Urbosa, but just as commanding and stern. Her mouth became dry as the desert outside, and her heart began to race as they were next in line. The vast majority were here with petty complaints, worries about crop yield and improvements that could be made to the town. Such was the nature of Hyrule castle, allowing audience to be held with her father every weekend for the towns' grievances to be expelled like a long awaited breath.

A tall, extravagantly decorated Gerudo woman stepped forth from the marble halls of the chieftain's chambers and viewed them with immediate disdain. This seemed to have worried Paya more than herself, however, as Zelda was fairly used to being either sized up or sneered at by Gerudo who weren't entirely sure of Zelda's identity. 

"State your business." She mumbled out dismissively. "Lady Riju can only take so many people in today, so if you plan to waste her time, I have to turn you away."

"I am the former Princess Zelda." Her voice cut through the red carpeted marble hall behind the tall Gerudo, and widened her eyes, before she sneered at her in disbelief. "I wish to speak with Lady Riju in hopes of creating a rebuilding effort towards my castle, and to assess and discuss the damage that the Calamity has caused."

"Is she insane?" The Gerudo amusedly asked Paya, who surprisingly furrowed in just as much of a stern expression as Zelda was wearing.

"She s-speaks the t-truth, she is Zelda." 

Zelda couldn't help but chuckle, such a small girl was showing aggression like a runt wolf baring her fangs. It was truly something to behold when the tall woman scoffed, giving yield and tapping her spear on the floor. 

"Let's see how my Lady handles such lunacy. Follow me." Down the worn red carpeted hall, the morning like poured in from the back of the throne room, half collapsed from damage she assumed was from the Calamity. The light beams illuminated the small girl sitting at her perch, two legs childishly tucked up on the large chair Urbosa once sat in to hold audience in much the same way. Her resting face was smug, done up in traditional Gerudo makeup and studying her guard as she approached. The smell of alluring sage and jasmine scents filled the air as their footsteps were muffled on the red carpet, sunlight gleamed and shined through the many accents that decorated the throne room, such as the chandeliers that hovered overhead, and the jeweled, colorful beads that filtered sunlight along the walls.

It was different than before, this throne room was befit for a different ruler than Urbosa, a younger one that valued more the lavishness of Gerudo royalty. 

The tall woman pointed at Zelda, and Riju's calculated glance followed. 

"This one claims to be-" 

"Princess Zelda." Riju said in shock, untucking her legs from under her and sitting forward on her throne like a child who had been caught with her elbows on the dinner table. She looked so less regal in those moments, but still, Zelda’s mouth was numb and dry as she drowned in nervousness, being near someone related to Urbosa was to her like bearing witness to a demigod. "Eight divine, it really is..." the young girl struggled to articulate herself properly, "You look so akin to your portrait."

“I beg your pardon?” Zelda’s worried confusion caught Riju in her trance, and she did her best to reassure her calm demeanor. 

“Forgive me, I am Lady Riju, heiress of the throne of Gerudo desert and its Vallies, descendant of the legendary Lady Urbosa and those who followed in her wake.” 

Zelda’s dry mouth grew drier, and she drew her lungs full of shallow breath. 

“It is an honor, Lady Riju. I am forever grateful for your hand in keeping Gerudo supported and nurtured, and can see that you’ve done very well given the circumstances.” 

Riju looked amazed, starstruck and speechless at Zelda’s praise, which was partly a surprise, as it was very unlike Gerudo royalty in general to show emotions publically further than stern gratitude and incessant finality.

“I am humbled by your praise. I know not how you stand before me, but as I was ever so recently made aware, you are not the only to have survived in this way.”

Zelda nodded, Paya shifting her stance next to her. 

“My champion, Link, survived by the same means.”

Riju slowly blinked and nodded, her sly demeanor returning to her for a moment.

“She holds Urbosa’s blade upon her person, a gift bestowed from myself for freeing from us our shackles that Vah Naboris kept us in. I take it this is her...replacement, yes?” The girl gestured to Paya. 

"She is not just a replacement, she is my friend. I will convince Link to join my side once more, but I chose to put myself in Paya's company." Zelda mentioned, smiling at her temporary guardian.

Riju squeezed her palms together. 

“To be honest, I am speechless. Your visit is to us like an oasis in a drought. I have so many questions!"

“Would you at all object to a proposition?” Zelda asked bluntly, the girl's attention caught like a fish on a lure. 

“Well, do tell. If there is anything we can do for you, let it be known.” 

Zelda tucked her arms behind her back, and attempted to put it as eloquently as possible with such wracked nerves. 

“I am going to hold a rally tomorrow. Gerudo town has some of the most creative and resourceful architects in the realm. I would like for them to attend a gathering in the afternoon in the ruins of my father's colosseum, as well as yourself, your fleet, anyone who wishes to come along, for I plan to rebuild my castle where it once stood.” 

Riju looked aghast, absolutely awestruck at her words. After pausing to think, she snapped her finger toward her guard and spoke in Gerudo, asking for her book under her purple pillow.

"Yes Lady Riju." The tall woman marched into a doorway on the left of the chamber, an arch that led to a spacious looking bedroom by the looks of it. Riju took a deep breath, and wiped a tear under her eye as discretely as she could, an effort that Zelda didn't fail to see through.

"Yes. I believe for the betterment of Hyrule, we will lend you our aid. We have horses, strong people, we have smiths who have waited a long while to put their skills to proper use." 

Bularia appeared from out of Riju's quarters, carrying with her a dreadfully tattered beige book, it's pages had obviously been tested over the years. 

"Hand me the book, Bularia." 

"Yes, Lady Riju." Upon taking a knee, the ruler took the literature from her guard's hand like she was cradling a newborn. 

That stomach dropping feeling was back.

"I may have never known Urbosa personally, but I had come to feel her intent for this land and her vision through this, her journal. It was authentically her in the way that none of her relatives could properly describe." She held out its worn, leather exterior with the spine facing Zelda, and through watering eyes, she began to walk to retrieve it.

A vestige, a memento that lived on through the years, a dying breath that spoke Urbosa's words beyond the grave. 

It all came to hit her in those few moments while she closed the gap between herself and the Gerudo royal. Uncontrollable sobs and hyperventilation shook her as her fingertips gracefully cradled the book in her hands, and held it closely to her chest.

Riju did not acknowledge her woe, she simply continued.

"Through her own written word, I have come to know you as well, for she wrote about you with such love and passion. We do not forget how imperative you were to our Lady Urbosa, how you helped shape her into the caring leader we revere today, and from beyond her resting place I am certain she thinks of you."

Zelda squeezed the book in her arms, like hugging Urbosa where she would never be again.

"You know...know not how much this means to me. I-...I…" Zelda felt a softly placed hand on her shoulder, and through teary eyes, buried her face on Paya's shoulder to sob.

"We will help you until our dying breath, Princess Zelda. We shall travel to the colosseum tomorrow."

Zelda was lost, sorrow and grief burned her insides and tensed her muscles like the book she held was Urbosa herself. But truthfully, she didn't know whether she wanted to revere this object, or burn it, as it being the last tie she had to Urbosa hurt so very deeply.

Zelda pulled away from Paya, and met eyes with the Lady, who was herself dealing with poorly suppressed emotions.

"I… _ *sniff* _ I thought I would come here to tell you how much she meant to me, but it seems as though she's beat me to it. She always was so much more cunning than I could have ever hoped to be." 

A tear fell down Riju's cheek, and she gave a genuine laugh.

"Keep that book close to you. It strengthened me for many years, but Urbosa would most likely prefer it stay by your side."

"Thank you. Thank you so very much."

She pushed past the many who stood waiting to hold audience with Lady Riju, within arms reach of her guardian who trailed closely behind. She clutched the book in her arms, and as the sun hit against her, with it came a wave of nausea from crying so much. 

The two walked out of the line, and back into the village square, where there was more room for her shoulders, a moment to stand still and take her breath back.

"I am sorry you had to see me that way, Paya."

"N-no, do not apologize for such a thing." 

Her eyes met Paya's, the girl's sad smile bled genuine care. "Crying is a crucial part of healing." 

Zelda sniffled, and dryly chuckled as she looked down at the book in her hands.

"Let's go, they must be waiting for us in the Zora domain."

"B-before we do, I must say s-something."

Zelda held the book closely to her chest, feeling a small trail of snot run down to her top lip, which she quickly wiped away.

"You t-told me to inform you if I am f-feeling less than my best. Does that s-still apply?" 

Zelda smiled, her itch to help Paya was quickly back in full effect.

"You  _ are _ still under my employ, so it is law." She said sweetly, and motioned for her to follow back to the bench where they sat earlier. 

"Tell me what ails you, champion."

"I-I am not sure how to articulate it, as it is...was my very first time feeling such a thing. I grew very f-fond of someone, and in my high spirits last night, I confessed everything to her. I do not know why I was certain she would feel the same way, but...s-she told me she does not b-b...because I am a girl."

Zelda's heart sank.

"The Zora girl? The scholar?" 

Paya nodded, her eyes becoming puffy and glistening with tears.

"I-I'm sorry, I just thought maybe y-youd..." 

"Paya, yes of course I understand." 

Paya sniffled, her tear-filled eyes reluctantly meeting with Zelda's.

"I'm afraid my advice is similar to your own." She said softly, waiting for a lull in the girl's crying. "We build peaks, we carve our mountains and stand tall atop them, but fate can knock us to the bottom of what we create." She looked at the diary on her lap, the creases in the leather reminded her only of Urbosa. "But we must not forget how to climb." Zelda tapped the book in her lap, her tears flowing freely again along with Paya. "Urbosa told me that. You mustn't forget how it felt to be atop your mountain, for it will be what drives you to climb again."

Paya's tears fell freely, and she clenched her eyes shut tightly.

"She s-s...sounds like she w-...was wonderful."

Zelda smiled sadly.

"She was. I appreciate you telling me. It's dreadful, keeping that bottled inside.” 

Paya gripped the cloth of her robes on her knees, Zelda had struck a chord, that much she could tell. 

“I haven't had much in the way of friends my w-whole life. Mona was who I confided in, and now, I f-feel as though she regrets knowing m-me.”

Zelda frowned, shaking her head.

“I’m sure if you talked to her she would tell you quite the opposite.”

“Oh, I d-don’t want to. I’m so f-frightened to even t-think of sp-speaking to her.” 

“She lives among you, you cannot keep your distance forever.”

Paya avoided Zelda’s gaze, squeezing her robe in defiance of her conclusion. 

“Listen, you are not alone in who you confide in. You are rich with company, myself included. You are  _ also  _ not alone in this specific venture, as I must be there to accompany you.”

“I am s-scared. I ignored her this morning b-because I did not know w-what to say. That is why I was waiting by your door.”

“You must know that it is not your fault she does not feel similarly, yes? Same sex attraction is awfully rare.”

The Shiekah girl sniffled, her shoulders slumped in defeat. 

"I feel as though it i-is my fault for b-being this way. Perhaps if I j-just did not like her in the first pla-" 

"Oh no, nonsense." Her demanding tone called Paya's attention, her dark brown irises twinkled with tears. "We cannot help whom we love. My love for…" Zelda's throat caught her sorrow again. "My love for Urbosa would have been forbidden by my father, which is why I never once told anyone but Urbosa my true feelings. You cannot be your own enemy, Paya."

Paya looked scared, like she had said the wrong thing and was being scolded.

"I apologize." She said quietly. "I remember spending many nights thinking about her, and how utterly wrong I thought it was for me to feel that way. In my kingdom, in my realm, no one will loathe themselves for who they love. Including yourself. She still wishes to be your friend." 

Paya sniffled, and faked a smile. Zelda knew how much time it would take to recover from such a blow. Time and nurture would be the only thing that could truly help from that kind of rejection.

Zelda stood, her urge to be punctual bucked at her like a horse. 

Paya took the hand offered by Zelda to stand again.

“We have other places to visit, let's not tarry."

Paya followed close behind, exiting Gerudo Town in the sea of people coming and going undetected was easy, a luxury Zelda was not going to have much longer. 

Zelda paused and looked over southward toward the beast. She had many memories of that behemoth, spending afternoons alongside Urbosa trying to figure out how it worked, what made it tick. The sands wore the town, but the divine beast waited untouched, unharmed by time.

She drew in a deep breath, and wordlessly began walking toward the shrine alongside Paya.

"How are you feeling?" 

Paya and Zelda stepped upon the lift and were shot downward, the whistling winds of the desert completely gone, leaving nothing but a low, artificial hum. 

"I-I am very nervous. I do not know how to face her." 

Zelda nodded, watching the inner machinations of the Shiekah workings cast quickening lights on Paya's face as they descended.

"I am certain she feels similarly. Trust me, within five minutes in her company you will see that there is nothing to be afraid of."

Paya shifted her stance, and they slowly descended down to the bottom of the chamber. 

"Do you pr-promise?"

Zelda looked past Paya, and saw the shriveled Monk sitting at the end of the hall, and held her sleeve back over her mouth. She nodded, and grabbed the girl to block her view as they walked.

"I promise." She said, her sleeve muffling her speech, making Paya giggle as Zelda used her as a shield against that wretched thing.

They stepped inside the humid transportation room, and Zelda didn't dare take her sleeve off her face, in fear of smelling the sickly scent of embalming fluid.

"Take us to Impa village, if you could. I wish to drop this book off by my quarters."

"Of course." Paya said, her smile was heard in her rather amused voice.

"I m-must check on grandmother, if that is okay with you." Zelda nodded.

"I don't think I'll be ambushed in that amount of time, do go ahead." 

The girl took a left into Impas home, and Zelda was left to her own thoughts as she walked down the aged street. Passing the main road, she noticed how many people were missing from the previous day. Perhaps they felt safe enough to return to their homes. Regardless, she received stares as she passed across the street, offering a wave to the silent few. 

She quickly entered her quarters, exhaling a breath as she pulled the journal from her pocket. It smelled like Gerudo. Like sage and earth. 

She feared this book, yet could do nothing else but stare at it, so confused as to what to feel.

She placed her fingers between the fastening that held the leather book together, and pondered opening it. Her lovers' handwriting, how heart wrenching that would be to witness. 

Zelda exhaled a shaky sigh, and placed it atop her pillow, vowing to see it again when the day draws to a close. 

_ I will be back. I will see you tonight.  _

The lights turned off as she left, and she tried to make its shape out in the pitch darkness of the room before the door rematerialized.

Another moment to meditate, standing in front of her door and gathering her thoughts in silence. She breathed deeply, as her day had been a tightrope walk, a small miscalculation and she would lose herself in a whirlwind of hopelessness, just as she did the night before. She must keep her balance at all costs. 

A tap at her shoulder nearly pulled her skeleton out of her skin, jumping out of her trance and flipping around to see Paya just as frightened.

“Ah! I thought if I tapped you, y-you would be less startled! I am so sorry!” 

With her hand over her racing heart, she placed the other on Paya’s shoulder and chuckled to herself. The girl flinched under her touch, and was relieved to see Zelda not upset about the ordeal.

“I startle easily, I suppose. Was everything all right?” 

Paya nodded, smiling nervously.

“Y-yes, I am ready when you are.”

"Wonderful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reaaaading! I sincerely loved writing this chapter and have really gotten back into the kick of things. Thanks for enjoying these Zelda chapters, by the way. Theeeeeey arent done yet! 
> 
> I love you all c:


	40. Somewhere warm would be nice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to play catch-up before the day grows too old! How has everyone been? Kaneli? King Dorephan?

“I’m perplexed as to how you protected Kakariko single handedly.” Zelda mentioned quizzically, such a feat of strength had her questioning Payas abilities.

The girl quirked an eyebrow. 

“It w-was not too difficult.” 

Zelda shook her head in disbelief, remembering how the onslaught was described. 

“But you were forced to slay a Moblin? I could hardly fathom even Link doing such a thing.” 

Her eyes darted nervously as they stepped into the transporting room.

"I did not fight one, I fought t-three." 

Zelda let out a poorly held gasp. 

"We're referring to the same creatures, are we not? Bipedal, two horses tall?"

"Y-yes." She stated in a quizzical manner. "I w-was afraid for myself, but after I fought the first one, I realized I move m-much quicker than they can swing. Cover your nose, b-by the way. There is a monk in most of these shrines." 

The room flashed with blue light, and Paya turned to face her. 

"Shall I stand in front of it for y-you?"

"That won't be necessary." She mumbled from behind her sleeve, smiling at Paya's nervous giggle. 

This room was identical to the last, a spot solely for transportation that had resurfaced since she had been here last. If only she could have been there to research this technology for those one hundred years, she wondered how far Hyrule could have come.

_ No matter.  _ She thought.  _ There is still time. _

She stepped upon the lift, and prepared herself to see the Zora Domain for the first time since the Calamity hit. 

Paya shifted nervously, biting the inside of her lip as they ascended.

"It's okay, Paya. I am here, you will be surrounded by your friends." 

Paya’s expression was devoid of confidence.

"You battled Moblins, you protected your village." Her statement got Paya to give her an unsure glance. "You're certainly strong enough to fight your nerves. You can do it!" 

"T-thank you." She mumbled. "But I have not t-trained for this." 

They rose to the top slowly, the sudden cessation of movement at the top churned Zelda's stomach. The noontime sun beamed brightly, as did the smile that crept on her face as she heard the rushing waters of the domain. Zelda turned behind her, Paya was standing still in the frame of the lift. This girl, who felled three Moblins stood as rigid as a statue, paralyzed in fear.

"Are you coming? There is nothing to be afraid of, you will see." 

Ducking her head low, she walked out next to the Princess like an injured puppy. 

With Paya by her side, Zelda turned to face the sound of rushing water, the gargantuan sight of the domain absolutely took her breath away. Her eyes spotted the many differences, a dark blue and sparkling hall carved into the bowl of the domain was lined with doors and filled with Zora people. She saw Vah Ruta, it's body half submerged in the East Reservoir. From the eastern lip of the 'bowl', Zelda caught a familiar face. King Dorephan sat upon his throne, speaking with Hylian and Gerudo travellers.

She was tempted to just shout his name to get his attention. She missed how mirthful he was, how dry his humor would get in the face of her rather deadpan father.

"I d-don't see M-Mona." Paya timidly said. 

"I can't catch sight of Link or Prince Sidon either. No matter, let's make our way so I may speak with the King."

"Hmm, there used to be such a heavy military presence here," Zelda remarked, the splashing of her boots was heard against the Great Zora Bridge.

"T-t-there w-was when I was h-h...here last." Paya stuttered. Zelda's heart broke for the poor girl, her stuttering had reached its absolute worst. She was visibly shaking, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword.

The giant King Dorephan recognized Zelda as they approached, and his eyes lit up like sapphires.

"Do my old eyes deceive me!?" He bellowed, pointing a big finger at her and causing the people he was conversing with to turn their heads to her. "How is it I age so much, yet you haven't gained a wrinkle!" 

His jubilant laugh shook the domain, ricocheted off the walls and caused her to return such a warm welcome with a gigantic smile. 

"A pleasure to see you too, King Dorephan." 

"Ah ha haaa! There is that voice, oh I swear it's as if I've stepped back in time! The elders would love this opportunity, one moment.  _ MUZU~ WE HAVE A VISITOR!"  _

Zelda's poor Hylian ears took the brunt of his call, and though she winced internally, she smiled through the pain, for his joy was too infectious to tarnish. 

The group of folk who were speaking to King Dorephan suddenly became an audience for their conversation. Come to think of it, as did most people around the gigantic hall surrounding them.

“Father, why are you screaming?”

Zelda looked around for the source of Prince Sidon’s playfully aggravated voice, but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. 

“Oh,” The Zora king pointed his thumb down. “He’s down there in the lake with Link and some little minnows.” She craned her head over the edge of a railing, down into the lake that was fed Lake Akkala’s streams from the large water systems set in place around the domain. She saw the red prince hitting an octo balloon around with Link, a few colorful little Zora children were playing alongside them. 

“Hello Link! Prince Sidon!” Zelda waved down, getting smiles and waves from the two. 

“Greetings, Princess Zelda! Welcome to -oof-” a rambunctious Zora child climbed up on the prince’s shoulder and overhand smacked the octo balloon toward Link, who was giggling at the prince’s expense. “Welcome to my domain! We’ll be up in a moment!” 

“We’ve finally achieved a calm lake, fortunately.” The king began. “Prior to this, it was much too dangerous to consider swimming in.”

Zelda watched the two playing keep away from the little children, each colored a cool shade of blue with squeaky voices heard barely over the sound of rushing river water.

“Pardon my asking, but. Where  _ is  _ your army?” Zelda’s curiosity and worry flared as she turned to direct his attention to her, putting a sparkle in the old King’s eye.

“Hah! Where  _ aren’t  _ they?” He began, resting his head on his fist. “We took an assault the other night, nothing we couldn’t handle, by the by. Lizalfos, bokoblin like we hadn’t seen in a while, put our spirits to the test!” The king huffed. “They  _ did,  _ however, manage to damage the road on the way here, carved up Inogo bridge with their spears and clubs, the fiends. Many of our own are down there, fixing the arches.” He leaned forward, and spoke in a more hushed tone. “Others are in Rito Village, ensuring their towns agreement with something my son and their chieftain discussed, but I’m not sure I should go into too much detail as of now. But they  _ did  _ get to put that little transporting room to use! We’ve taught them all to use it!” The king stretched back on his chair like he was exhausted from the exertion required to speak. “Regardless, many of our people are out, stretching their legs, so to speak! It’s been an awfully long time since they’ve been able to leave.” 

Zelda’s brow furrowed, remembering what Prince Sidon had explained to her the night before, how their home was trapped for a centuries time.

“So I’ve heard.” She began sorrowfully. “I’m so dreadfully sorry for what happened.” 

The king missed a beat, and gathered himself just as quickly.

“No one could have known. The elders like to say they did, but they always claim to be clairvoyant of such things, pay them no mind.”

“What about elders?” A scraggly dark green Zora appeared from behind the king’s throne, his arms tucked behind him, wearing a permanent scowl. Zelda faintly remembered this man, a rather terse and uptight representative that would visit the castle as a temporary consul of the Zora domain. Along with the elder, a congregation of others just as elderly followed in his wake. Among them was the blue, freckled Mona, her eyes meeting with Zelda’s, and then to Paya’s in a lightning bolt of anxiety. 

“Oh, there they are!” The king began, gesturing to Zelda. “Look! Hyrule’s own lady, just as Link and Sidon said!” 

Zelda had a hard time paying attention to the elders, as the sheer amount of effort Paya and Mona were using to ignore each other’s gazes was staggering. Paya shook relentlessly, her nerves obviously beat her like a lame horse. 

“It is an honor,” The head elder said, his tone monotonous, he showed little surprise compared to everyone else who had met her up to that point. This lack of surprise from him shook her from her daze, and she saw his offered hand. She reluctantly agreed, shaking the scowling Zora’s hand, silently wishing she still had her favorite pair of gloves that were most likely less than scraps of ancient leather buried in the ruins of her home.

“I’ve been informed of your rather ambitious ideas for Hyrule’s reform.”

“Yes." She began studiously. "They are less ideas, and more plans put to action as soon as possible. That’s partly why I am here today.” Zelda shifted at how curt he was acting, she tried her best not to let her temper flare through her words. 

“Well," he began, "as is with all matters concerning Hyrule as a whole, we have our say as well." His words were slow, with a proper drawl that felt like gravel was dancing in the back of his throat. "Erm, the council and Kakariko’s scholar have devised a way to streamline the process.” 

She did not expect such a sense of camaraderie to come from the curmudgeonly elder’s mouth, and she perked up to listen as Muzu motioned Mona over. 

“This one can put it in better words.” Muzu croaked, his scowl weakened slightly into a simple frown, as if it were his way of showing kindness.

“Wuh, well,” Mona began, fumbling a piece of paper unfolded, and showed it to her. It was a map of Hyrule, little dots peppered throughout the realm. “The idea is we use these shrines to get people to and from select places with the proper building materials, use the rooms to move cargo, or move workers. You know, whoever you plan on appointing.” 

“I’ve appointed Renno to head the building operations.” Zelda said matter-of-factly as she scanned the map further. 

This got a clear reaction out of the elder council, murmuring and grumbling swept through the lot of them, but Mona was unphased. She simply nodded, her bottom lip pushed against her top. 

“Another thing that helps-” 

Mona was cut off by the approach of Prince Sidon, next to a very drenched Link. The scholar still fought against meeting eyes with Paya, shifting uncomfortably under everyone’s gazes. 

“Just in time.” She directed her attention to Zelda, and began again. “Link’s slate has the capability to pull large, metallic rock. Larger than any wagon could pull.” 

Zelda looked at Link, who was sopping wet with river water, standing next to the prince. 

“Is this true?” She asked. Link nodded, and was just about to say something before she was cut off by the prince. 

“It does have the power to lift a divine beast.” He said this so casually, it was rather jarring. "I pulled Vah Medoh from the skies with it."

"Show me." She blurted. Link pulled from her hip the slate, and tapped it a few times before looking around. 

"I need something to show her with." 

"Here, dearest. Use this." Sidon missed Link's obvious blush and embarrassed smile, as he was too busy retrieving a luminous stone from a sconce, one of many that surrounded the circular throne room. 

He placed it on the ground gently, and backed away, holding one arm behind his back and another pointed at the stone, looking like a magician revealing an ever-illusive trick. 

An orange beam shot forth from the slate, and against seemingly all laws of physics, the metallic rock was moved to Link's whims, with nothing more than the flick of a wrist.

"Fascinating." She murmured, noting how heavy the stone looked on its own, how it was moved with such ease.

Link released the stone, and shivered a bit where she stood. 

"Well I'm c-cold, so."

Prince Sidon quickly swooped down to pick up the stone, and put it back in its rightful spot.

"Right, let's get you into proper clothing and hang these out to dry, hm?" 

Link nodded, before stopping herself from sliding the slate back into its spot. She approached Zelda, her clothes (the top of which, previously belonged to her) dripped with river water.

"Here," she began, her voice and thin body trembling in the autumn breeze as she held out the slate. "It's better if you take it for now. There's a map, and if you swipe it to the right there's this thing that lets you capture whatever you're looking at, an-" 

"I remember, Link." She giggled, gladly taking the device. It was warm from use, the map already open, revealing the entirety of Hyrule. "Thank you, I will return it whenever you wish."

"And  _ I _ will return shortly,” Sidon stated, “so that you and I may visit Rito village. Does that sound satisfactory?" 

Zelda quirked an eyebrow.

"Does Link not wish to join us?" 

"I uhm, I don't like the cold." She blurted, in a voice Zelda remembered to be entirely full of anxiety and dishonesty, a tone used when Zelda would ask what's wrong but would be met with not much else rather than an 'I'm okay'.

Link was no doubt lying, but, who was Zelda to call this out in front of the many that stood by? 

"So be it, then." She said, motioning her out with one hand. "Go on, you'll catch cold exposed to the elements like that."

She directed her attention back to Mona.

"See, you have these, what we'll call 'jumping points' where workers can travel daily, move sediment and materials for building from basically anywhere in the realm." Mona said as she walked up to Zelda, her back facing the nervous Paya behind her. She pointed at the transportation rooms that were close to the cities, and moved her finger along to the spots that used to serve as rock quarries, now most likely abandoned.

Zelda had a difficult time paying attention, the nervous Shiekah girl in the corner of her eye was shifting anxiously and inching further away, and there was nothing she could do to get her to come back. Was she simply being ignored by this girl? It was then that her outward frustration got the better of her, and she put on her quiet, yet short tone.

"She needs to be spoken with." She nearly hissed, making sure Mona was the only one that heard. "She's been at her wits end since morning, it's tortuous to watch."

Mona fell silent, her hand previously pointing at the map fell back to her side, and she gulped nervously. 

"It's just that…" She began quietly, "She left and didn't say anything this morning." 

Zelda cleared her throat, and spoke in an even quieter tone of voice. 

"Well she is here as of right now, and you must know how utterly petrified she is to be here. Go, the both of you will feel better."

"But, I-" 

"Go."

Mona drew in a sigh, and nodded silently. A polite smile was given, and she reluctantly withdrew to speak with the girl behind her.

Zelda moved her attention to the elderly group ahead of her, along with the politely waiting king. He was just there smiling, his hand acting as a headrest for him to rest his chin upon. 

"Well, what is your intent, our fair lady?" His smile was seen behind his hand as he said this. If it were anyone else, Zelda would take this goofy line as a sarcastic remark, but it was more than loving, the way an uncle playfully nudging her for being so serious would be.

"Tomorrow, noontime." she stated matter-of-factly. "The ruins of my father's colosseum is to house a rally. The finer details of my castle's reform will be stated for the carpenters and stoneworkers who wish to aid. For the ones who will help, it's rather mandatory, but for those who want better insight into how quickly the process will go, they are most certainly allowed as well." 

"Hm," The king began, his curiosity piqued in his voice. "Well we were informed of your plans, but we certainly were not informed of their urgency."

"I've my father's impatience, I suppose." King Dorephan giggled loudly behind his hand, and sighed to himself.

"Oh goodness, I miss that stick in the mud." 

Through pursed lips, she nodded.

"As do I." 

"Well, you know I won't attend. I'll send Bazz, the commander of my army, along with my carpenters. Any of the council is more than welcome, as well.  _ Oh!  _ Not to mention my son! Pfft, I almost forgot, he’s more than crucial!"

Zelda smiled, the genuine support and glee of the giant king had her heart beaming in her chest. 

"I appreciate it, King Dorephan. As well as your help, Muzu." 

The elders scowl lightened, and he nodded slowly. 

"We will prepare what we deem necessary for the event. It was a pleasure to meet you, Princess Zelda." 

"Of course." She responded, not fully aware of what the elders would deem as necessary, but with all of their planning, it would be more than welcome. 

His half sunken eyes studied her, made her feel uneasy under his gaze as the elder council departed.

“Well, that went better than I expected!” The king chuckled from behind his hand, and sat up in his gargantuan throne.

“How so?” She asked, but even then, she felt this to be true as well. 

“Muzu and the others have had a... _ mixed _ opinion on the Shiekah race since the Calamity, I’m afraid.” 

_ Ah, so that’s what it was.  _ She thought to herself, her aggression flaring like a smouldering furnace. 

“The Shiekah race has been imperative to the Royal family as far back as we have records for.”

“I know, I know.” He stated apologetically. “I’ve spent the better part of a century trying to drill that in their heads. They built them up to be monsters throughout our isolation.” 

“Lady Impa has gone so far as to lend her village to the carpenters who wish to lend a hand. She’s nothing but generous. I’m aware there’s many things isolation can do, but the blind hatred of another race will not be tolerated.” 

King Dorephan fell into a pit of his own giggles, before pausing to collect himself with a large sigh. 

“Oh, I missed your attitude more than I realized.” 

Zelda playfully rolled her eyes, and turned to see the scholar hugging Paya, who stood rigid and nervous, her eyes staring directly ahead.

She appeared more relieved than earlier, but she could only imagine what kind of pain she was still going through. Mona pulled away, and after saying a few more words Zelda couldn't quite catch from that distance, she got a smile out of the Shiekah girl, which in turn lifted her own spirits.

“Yes,” Zelda said, her focus pulled between two things at once. “Your attitude is quite a breath of fresh air as well, we’ll have to talk more once we get the chance.” She watched the two approach, the scholar eyeing Zelda apologetically. 

Zelda attempted trying to ask if Paya was okay with the furrow of her brow. It was hard to discern a response, however, as the girl dodged her gaze.

“Where were we?” The scholar asked. 

“I informed the council of my efforts to gather a rally in the colosseum by noontime tomorrow. I’ve informed Lady Riju of the same, and intend to do the same with Rito village, as well as any of the Gorons and Hateno.” 

The scholar thought on this, and nodded quickly. 

“A few days ago the rest of the scholars were told that there might be changes to how trade is done, but not that we’ll be having a rally.” 

"I'm sure they'll be informed come tomorrow, don't you think?"

She bit her lip in thought, and remained silent herself. 

"I'll inform them.” Zelda said assuringly, “Do not worry. Is Hateno still... _ governed  _ the same way it always has been?"

Mona's brow shot up, and she nodded.

"Yeah. No one really runs it. Might as well talk to Deene, the scholar there. He can get the word out." 

"Lovely." She stated optimistically. “It seems as though many things are falling into place quite nicely.” 

Mona shrugged, and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the towering king who had been eavesdropping his fair share.

“The realm has been ready for you, dear! Aha! You wouldn’t be surprised if you yourself had a century to sit on your thumbs like us!”

Zelda blew a laugh out of her nose, crossing her arms like a parent.

“Will you be joining us, Mona? To Rito Village and Hateno?” 

“Uhhh,” She stammered, looking over at Paya next to her. “I think I’ll need to catch up with you tonight in Kakariko. The elders want to make sure this is done thoroughly. I need to help sketch more maps out to ensure everyone knows where all of the shrines are.” She rolled her wrist in her hand slowly, rubbing the muscles between her tendons. “My hand is already hurting, but, I have a better arm than the elders do.” 

Zelda exhaled, and nodded understandingly. 

From behind his father’s throne, Prince Sidon appeared dressed in a large, pelted coat, and approached with his friendly expression, sort of merging himself into the conversation as it was still going on. 

“I should probably get back to it, but…” The small Zora girl paused, before guiltily wrapping her arms around Paya in a surprise hug. After a few moments of silence, she released her, but it was painful to watch Paya’s surprised expression go from elated with a wondrous blush, to sad and disappointed. There were most likely a million things Zelda could tell she wished to scream out into the void, but could not. Her fingers gripped to Mona’s back tightly, but weakened after a moment, as did Zelda’s fingernails against her own hand which left cuticle shaped red markings in her own palm.

"Are we ready?" Sidon asked, high spirits in his tone with his hands pulling his coat inward. 

Mona backed away, and gave an awkward wave to Paya before seeing herself out, brushing past Sidon's coat that flowed over his body like a blanket. 

"It will get awfully cold, ladies. Are you sure we can't find you two anything to get bundled up in on the way?"

Zelda shook her head, her mind still in a daze at what she was just witness to.

"I have no intention to stay that long, lest Paya wishes for something more warm?" 

"I'm w-warm blooded, b-but thank you." 

Sidon smiled, and spoke worriedly.

"Mm, Link has a coat she got from the stables outside the village, are you sure you wouldn't like to borrow it?” 

The shy girl shook her head again, keeping herself from making eye contact with the tall prince. 

“Well,” He said, “I don't intend to stay long. I only wish to speak to Chieftain Kaneli, perhaps speak to Kayden as well."

He straightened his coat to his body, and waved a goodbye to his father as they departed towards the transportation room. All the while, Zelda's eyes were drawn to Paya's rather defeated form, her shoulders and spirits slumped in a mixture of torn emotion.

"Goodbye, father! I'll return soon!"

"Ah," the king raised a hand and waved. "Be safe now!" 

As they walked across the Great Zora Bridge, the rushing waters below them followed their footsteps. Zelda was unable to keep her attention off of the girl beside her, and with a quick glance over to her right, she noticed Prince Sidon was doing much the same, his tall form turned ever so slightly to study her. Zelda gave him a worried look, darting her eyes over at the quiet girl and back in an attempt to wordlessly ask him if he was privy to her sorrow as well. His eyes sadly scanned the ground, before he softly piped up himself. 

"I take it my father expressed his feelings about your absence?” 

She shook herself from her daze, and chuckled lightly. 

“Hmhm, yes he did.”

“He talked about what elders call ‘old world’ Hyrule as I was growing up, and you would often come up in his recollections.” 

“Well, as far as my mind is concerned, I spoke to him not long ago at all.”

Zelda glanced over at him, she saw he was smiling. 

"He likes to say you reminded him of Mipha, just more quick to speak your mind." 

She held back a half scoff and half laugh.

"Oh goodness, I'm not sure what he means, Mipha was far more mild mannered than I. But, King Dorephan very much feels like family. As did Rutalla." 

Sidon gasped, before his face relaxed and he let out a polite chuckle. 

"Oh that never occurred to me, you must have known my mother quite well!" 

His energy was childlike, his hands were balled into fists of excitement.

"Mm, she spoke much less than your father did during our bi-monthly gatherings in my father's court. As you know, she was the head of your army, so my father would address her in regards to where you were stationing your men, how many you had trained."

The prince nodded expectantly, his hand rubbing his jaw. 

"My father had this tendency to puff out his chest about how he did things, but never quite could with your mother. She always tried to, aha, get the better of him in that way your father does, but was much more subtle about the whole affair. She often passively claimed how much more effective rapiers were when my father would tell her to issue her men simple straight swords." 

The prince let out a hearty chuckle, and grabbed the hemming of his coat, revealing his mother's sword, snugly affixed to his side. She let out a gasp, its opulent gleam was just as elegant as when she saw it last, much the same as all of Zora Domain.

"Oh it looks just the same, how lovely!" She giggled, before quieting down and thinking on her father, and the court that held that very conversation. "Yes, she was much more silver-tongued than my father, and I think he envied that."

"A woman a few words who fought with the strength of a monsoon." Sidon said, his cadences were spoken as if he was reading from a book. 

"That is apt." She stated, a grin on her face as a plan to drag Paya into the conversation brewed in her head. "Those words could also be used to describe someone else I knew quite well."

Paya looked up to her after a few seconds of silence, and was rather shocked that she was being stared at. 

"Uh...a-ah, h-huh?" She stammered, slipping in her words like one would on a waxed floor. 

"Impa." Zelda said with untethered amusement in her voice, "She was a woman of very few words back when she was my father's guard." 

The girl gave her a sad smile, side eyed as they turned to walk toward the shrine. 

"She loved to talk when I was young, eheh. S-she talked to me even before I k-knew how to speak Shiekah, or Hylian."

"You must have been quite the listener!" Prince Sidon said. This got a bit more of a smile out of her, perhaps breaking free a few more memories.

"S-she tells me she never knew how to raise a child, she said she would simply sit me down and talk with me w-when I was a baby. N-not much of K-Kakariko liked her then, so I was the only person she could speak to."

Paya caught Zelda smiling at her story, and dodged her gaze again just as quickly as they approached the waiting shrine. Truthfully, it wasn't her story that gave Zelda such joy, it was more of a relief to see Paya genuinely happy about something. 

"She is  _ also _ in possession of an antiquity of a sword." She pointed at Paya's weapon. "One made for Impa herself, but she never did put it to use." 

Sidon smiled, and chuckled.

"Well, Paya could put her weapon to much better use than I."

Zelda noticed Paya's blushing profile as they stepped onto the waiting platform, all ready to be shuttered downward from the sounds and fresh smells of the domain. She took this opportunity to pull Paya out of her comfort zone, if just a little bit more.

"Enlighten me, Prince, for I have trouble believing even Link could defeat a single moblin herself, but Paya claimed to have slain three in a row protecting Kakariko." 

Paya tensed up, Zelda swore she could hear her let out a small squeak past her embarrassed lips.

The joy that she got from making Paya smile with the direct attention, however, paled in comparison to the Prince's next words. 

"Has she told you about her and Link's sparring session? The unanimous winner was indeed Paya!" 

_ "No!"  _ Zelda exclaimed, shocked with a gargantuan smile plastered across her face, looking to Paya like she was some walking impossibility. "You did?!" The royalty nudged Paya with a hand, who's intense blush could be seen in the blue glow of the lift they stood upon. "And you did not think to tell me?!"

Paya shifted on her feet, eye contact remaining at the floor below. It was such a wonder, as Zelda had seen Link spar many times. While Link was not nearly talkative or social in her past, she fought as often as she was made to, teaching newer recruits where necessary. When Zelda watched Link spar, she was often entranced by how brutal it was, how such raw strength could be driven through gritted teeth and sheer will alone.

"A-aha, I must have gotten l-lucky.” She said shyly, “Really, I-”

“Paya.” Zelda stated, her brow furrowed sternly. “You fought my guard, the one my father chose to put before any other soldier in my fleet, and you rose victorious. That is not a simple feat.”

Paya was silent, moving her line of sight to Zelda for a moment for an appreciative glance and a smile. Perhaps it was something of a sensory overload for her to be held in such high regard as she was from both Zelda and the Prince, for she did not have a proper response. Maybe she was speechless, or, perhaps she was just uncomfortable under such praise.

“Well, I will have to watch you spar, if you ever find it within you.” 

This was not spoken to be a demand, but a genuine request, and Paya met her eyes once more to nod as the party finally descended to the shrine's floor.

The smell of cleaning fluid hit her with a sucker punch to her nostrils, and Paya made efforts to stand in front of the sensitive girl as they walked. 

"Now, before we arrive, Prince Sidon, why is it that Link could not accompany us? She might dislike the cold, I'm aware, but...there was something else. I can always tell with her." 

"That's...putting it lightly." She began, the thought of Link's pure intentions tossed aside and quite literally stepped on brought her chilled blood to a boil as they reached the top of Rito village's shrine, out into the frigid air of Tabantha. 

Unsurprisingly, the village remained much the same from where she stood, save for Vah Medoh, perched atop a hill overlooking the ruins of her castle, that of which she could barely make out from where she stood. Far more different walks of life surrounded the damp and dirty roads, the shambled together stable facing the winding road to the Rito village's mesa housed many different races, many of which gave Zelda rather long, studying glances behind thick layers of clothing.

"Trust me, I shall make sure this is dealt with. Considering my relation to her, this is rather...personal to me."

"I understand, but." Zelda blurted angrily. There was not much more that could bring her to absolute wits end than harm coming to those closest to her. "If you need a hand, prithee, I will lend it."

Across the bridge, passing those who could not get to Rito village by way of flight, Zelda saw many new manners of trade, such as more artistic ventures of Rito clothing and accessories. 

Coming here was a venture she did not expect to bear fruit, as the Rito race was rather dodgy in the past, preferring most of all of the corners of Hyrule to be left on to their own devices. They certainly remained self sufficient, their people thrived just as much as they had a century prior.

"Ah!" Sidon huffed happily, approaching the entrance to Rito village proper and catching the attention of a blue, slender Zora, who was positively bundled head to toe in a fur-covered Hylian getup. "Kayden!"

The man smiled, in his company were two other Zora folk, each holding opulent spears with crescent moon-shaped ends. 

"Prince Sidon!"

"I apologize for sending the cavalry before myself. I take it you survived your trek to parts unknown?"

The man made a surprised expression, looking around for someone in particular. 

"Survived? Ponti, Tekk and I were hardly able to make our way out before the quakes got too bad! We ran back as quick as we could and got to watch the end of the world. Scared the daylights out of all of us when Medoh shot its cannons. Nearly deafened us, too. Not sure where those old coots went, but..."

Zelda caught Paya shiver from the corner of her eye, silently scolding her for lying about being so warm blooded. She had half of a mind to call her out on it, but could not interrupt.

"You really gave Kaneli a second wind, by the way. He's been doing nothing but watching the masons dig out jail cells in the Tapping Swan." 

The prince furrowed, before beginning a steady pace toward the left of the village, the crunching of the sparse snow was heard among the sounds of chittering birds flying above and around the village. 

"He's built the jail cells in their meadery?" 

"Said it's easier that way. Who's your company, by the way? Aren't you two a lil...cold?" He asked casually, pointing at the two girls who followed behind. The cold air crept up Zelda's fingertips, she was hoping they were going somewhere warm. 

"I am the former Princess Zelda, this is my bodyguard, Paya." The man's expression was somewhere between shock, and sheer horror. "Somewhere warm would be nice, yes."

“Holy-” Kayden stammered, his body language stuttered just as much as he did. "Jeez sorry I didn't know you were... _ alive _ , but, with everything happening lately I don't have a hard time believing you." He reluctantly offered his hand to shake. "I'm Kayden, Rito scholar extraordinaire."

She took his gloved hand and shook it, much better than shaking Renno's sweaty, water soaked palm in Kakariko.

"She was in a resurrection chamber, deep within their castle's own penitentiary."

Kayden unceremoniously bowed his head, his words spoken less confidently than they were just moments prior. 

"Well. Welcome to the waking world, your highness. I hope you like crowded areas, by the way." He said, slipping his gloves off of his hands and pocketing them as they turned into a railing hugging against the side of the village's plateau. He looked up at Sidon, all while his hand hovered over the railing as they descended down a set of stairs. "All the soldiers had half a mind to join in the merriment after they caught a whiff of the mead." 

Kayden grabbed the handle of a thick, old door embedded into the plateau, and pushed with all his body weight. The loud chatter and boozy breathed laughter overloaded her fragile senses, she noticed the tables and full glasses bathed in hanging lamplight crowded with Rito soldiers sitting among themselves, many of all ages talking boisterously about putting their combat skills to use the few days prior. A table of Zora soldiers were participating much the same, just more reserved.

Regardless of this merry place, it was unhinged, untethered and messy in all sorts of ways she was not used to. It was hard to find a nice place to stand, with tables so packed together there was only enough room for the people sitting near them. Paya must have felt similarly, as she backed herself closer and closer to Zelda's unwavering aura as she craned her neck to seek out the Chieftain.

The Zora prince did not seem bothered in the slightest by such a rowdy place, however, and playfully slammed both hands onto the table full of his own soldiers, giving them all faux dirty looks. 

"Slacking, are we?! I should have your heads!" 

Zelda's attention was pulled by her Shiekah guard with a wordless tap to her shoulder. The girl's tall cheekbones showed her rosy cheeks, flushed from the sudden temperature change and the suffocating atmosphere. She struggled to produce proper speech, so Zelda leaned in closely, just enough to practically  _ feel  _ her bodyguard's shaky breath against her ear. 

"T-there, the Chieftain." 

"Where?" 

Following her finger, a trail of smoke wafting into the air gave away the location of the Chieftain, nearly around a corner tucked away in the back of the bar, puffing away at a pipe and reading from a book. 

"Wonderful."

Pushing past the many soldiers nestled comfortably in conversation and frothy mugs, she gleaned just a few dirty looks from the feathered folk. Once again, not entirely different from when she was here last, yet the added comfort of having a supposedly Moblin-slaying guard calmed her nerves.

The elder chieftain, a portly fellow absorbed in his literature, giving glances to a crooked hallway that splayed off from the Tapping Swan, the merriment echoed down this darkened hall, sounds of tools hitting dirt and mumbled conversation was picked up in the foreboding place by Zelda's sensitive ears as they approached. 

"Kaneli, it's been quite a while." 

The elder removed the pipe from his beak, and slowly moved his gaze from his book. His piercing, owl-like eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her. He looked so much...sleepier, now, his stature less intimidating. Perhaps calmed down was a more apt descriptor, as before, he was rather snappy and loud. Now, it had become quite the opposite, Zelda could see her own humbled expression in the reflection of his thick-rimmed glasses.

"I was praying for your return!" The old man shakily lifted his glasses off his beak, clutching in one feathered hand his pipe that he held in the corner of his mouth. 

"Ah, I can see King Bospheramous sparkle in your eyes! How lovely it is to see you, young lady!"

The sounds of the hall were now more apparent, she could hear distant, annoyed speech. "I met with Link not but a half-week ago! You and your bodyguard are...a much needed sight for these old eyes." 

After their introductions, Zelda layed out her ideas much the same as she did for the other royalty she had come across. The elder was hesitant, expressing his rather adamant fear of his own people reacting negatively to even the smallest things he enacts, and how Prince Sidon was the one to push him to put forth his own jail system. 

"It is not  _ entirely _ necessary to attend, it is just something I feel the entirety of Hyrule needs to be aware of. Many of your people were once our mail couriers, you know."

The elders beak let out grey tufts of thick smoke as he nodded. 

"Of course, my army will be made well aware, we will acquire what we can, but you know our people are known for their...tendencies." 

He cleared his throat, his voice was joyous as he spoke again. "But, you may certainly count on my own arrival, as well as my own wing in your ventures! Camaraderie is a rarity in our land, many of my own aren't as willing to protect the many, but they may learn yet." 

"I appreciate that, Chieftain Kaneli. I rather like your meadery, by the way. Reminds me of my father's ale brewery." 

"Ah!" He chirped knowingly, a wild look in his eyes befitting of his peculiar nature. "It gets cold! We sell warmth to our less climate-controlled friends. What else are we to do with all our wildberries, we grow more than we can keep!"

The prince approached from behind, his presence made known by a stool being placed right against the nearby bar not inches away from where Kaneli sat. Zelda gave him a playfully confused look.

"Do not mind me, I'm more than capable of waiting my turn." He said, a polite smile stretched across his face. Paya shifted where she stood, and Zelda silently agreed with her show of increased anxiety, not wanting to spend another second than necessary in that hectic place. 

"Well," Zelda began to the elder, "You and any of those who choose to join you are more than welcome to take the shrines there. I'm sure you've been informed on how to use them."

"I appreciate it, but my people will most likely want the opportunity to stretch our wings. Noontime, then. You will see me in the rafters, watching you like I once did your father. I look forward to hearing your plans, new Queen of Hyrule."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always say im enjoying the writing these chapters, but its been even moreso lately. 
> 
> I legit love all who comment, all who give kudos. it makes me so stupidly happy. I seriously check my comments when im feeling sad, and It always makes me feel good to see you all caring about my story. fseofefaofbeaff blah
> 
> I love you all C:


	41. You look softer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day drags further, and Zelda's preparations for her upcoming rally are coming to a steady fruition. Only one last stop in Hateno and she can finally settle down.

Zelda pushed the door open, the mountain air was leagues less suffocating than the stuffy, thick air that filled the meadery.

It appeared that Paya was just as excited about their departure, the girl trailed right behind her heel as they ascended back to the top of the steps. After watching Prince Sidon meet with the elder and discuss the jail cells, Zelda thought it was best to leave, as they began discussing the Rito soldier that hurt Link.

"Happy to be out of that, I presume?" Zelda asked knowingly, watching her temporary guard emerge up the topmost step. The Shiekah girl huffed like she was just let loose from a chokehold the meadery had put her in, her cheeks were even a bit flushed as if that very thing had physically happened. 

"I-I...I was alright." She managed to say, completely unconvincingly. 

"Nonsense! It smelled of vomit in there!"

The girl held back a mousy chuckle. 

"We d-did look a little out of p-place." She admitted. 

"A  _ little?"  _ Zelda asked, aghast, trying to get the girl's eyes to stay on hers for longer than a few seconds. "A Hylian and a Shiekah, both dressed in traditional Shiekah robes, walking directly into a Rito meadery? It sounds awfully like the setup to a bad joke." She paused to revel in Payas short giggle, and thought on their next move from where they were.

"D-do you think we should wait for Prince Sidon?" 

Zelda looked to her left, at the shape of Vah Medoh facing the sight of her old home. 

"Yes, but if you wouldn't mind, there's a spot I'd like use to bide our time."

"Of c-course, Zelda."

She followed diligently behind, Zelda ascended the sloped spiral that coiled the spire Village, it's sturdy needle shape still stood after a century of wear with its homes carved into the walls.

"Goodness, this village is so much the same as it was when I was here last."

"I've n-never b-been." 

Zelda smiled, glancing behind her as she held on the railing coiling up the spire. 

"Your grandmother has, a few times, with my father and I. The Rito used to deliver mail for most corners of Hyrule, save for Goron village. There's quite a bit to see out there, Paya, just look." She said with wonder in her voice as they arrived at the top of the spire, she saw more and more from beyond the peaks of Tabantha's mountains. She could see Death Mountain's volcanic eruptions cooling into smouldering, glowing stone upon its rocky walls. She saw the reclamation of wilderness that took over Hyrule Field, took over much of its crevices and smaller roads. But perhaps the most eye-catching thing to her was her old home, its grey rock muddied with time, sitting as a ghost of its former glory.

She didn't expect the sight to affect her in the way that it did, and in the same vein of emotion, questioned why she never considered it wouldn't. Her hands gripped the railing, the top of the spire held the Chieftain's home facing Hyrule in its largest scope. It was colder there than anywhere else in the village, the breeze blew cold spasms of pain against her skin, but it was awfully hard to pay attention to anything else than what laid in the middle of Hyrule.

Her companion rested her hands on the railing as well, and from the corner of her tear filled eyes, Zelda could see Paya studying her with wordless worry. 

"I apologize," She stuttered, wiping a tear with the knuckle of her index finger. "Hearing about it is much, much different than seeing it. I realize that now."

Paya remained silent, reflectively looking out into the distance, her hands far back within her own sleeves for warmth.

"When I was l-little, and grandmother trained me regularly in the colosseum, she would have a hard time looking at the castle on our trips." She cleared her throat, and hesitated. "A-after I noticed how much she tried to ignore it, I saw everyone else we p-passed doing the same. I did not understand it much, how they could simply ignore it from so far away without...doing something." Paya pulled a hand out of her sleeve to nervously click her thumb and index finger nails together. "Then, I g-grew up enough to be told the stories of Ganon. Stories about how old it is, how many forms it has taken. It actually gave me nightmares. B-but, I'm sure to you, it's like it was never vanquished."

Zelda inhaled a shaky breath, her lungs stung from the thin and chilling wind.

"I was born in that castle, in a small nursery my parents had built just for my birth. We had no wetnurse, my mother dedicated to me her full attention." Zelda said in a melancholy tone, turning her head to see Paya looking at her, who quickly looked away to avoid eye contact. "I awoke to the smell of baked bread every morning, I watched the stars and memorized the constellations from outside my window with a telescope given to me by my eldest professor. I knew my seamstresses, my cooks, my handmaidens, my army, the chancellors who resided in our library, I knew them all by heart... by what they often talked about." Zelda gripped the railing, the tightrope of unsteadiness she was walking was threatening to snap under her feet. It was as if there was nothing she could do to stop it. "I heard them talk about their dreams, their loves, but even so...I hardly even knew most of them, as in, I never got to sit down and speak with them in earnest. Now, more than ever, I wish I could get the chance to. No matter how much I resented my dunce of a father he'd never fail to put a smile on my face somehow. And now...I'll never be in his presence again..." She couldn't shake the visions of calamity, the events that caused the once proud castle she called her home to be reduced to rocks and bones. She imagined the excavations that were to follow in the coming months of that place, and imagined the builders unearthing her father's rusted crown, a memento to a mistake that could have been prevented. She quickly held her sleeve over her mouth and nose and loudly sobbed, the cloth only silenced her slightly as the sight of her castle's graveyard was blurred from behind her tears.

She felt as though she'd never cried this much in a single day in her life, and could not recall a day to dispute that theory. She looked over, Paya was doing not much more than silently watching her cry with an apologetic expression, her arms leaning against the railing. 

But there was something odd that Zelda couldn't help but notice about the girl. From the beginning of the day to now, Paya kept from looking at Zelda as she spoke, kept her head held down as if the very act of looking at Zelda face to face was a crime, but in that moment, as Zelda cried into her sleeve like she was trying to hold a wound from bleeding too profusely, Paya kept her eyes locked on her own. Yes, the shiekah girl was sniffling and trying to keep her own floodgate of tears from breaking free, but she did not break her gaze.

Her brown eyes were dark in contrast to her blood flushed, pale skin. The red Shiekah insignia tattooed on her forehead was so mesmerizing, an intense expression of its own as it stared a hole into her soul. How bright it was, how eye catching it was nearly distracted her from the tear that fell down the girl's cheek. It was so cold it was a wonder how it didn’t freeze to her face. She exhaled, the heat of her breath came out as chilled vapors from her parted lips. 

Zelda sniffled, and felt an involuntary chuckle escape her lips, dumbfounded as she wiped her cold sleeve against her own cheek. 

“Look at me, I’m such a tragedy that you’re mourning alongside me.” 

Paya broke her prolonged eye contact, only to notice the stray tear in question. 

“N- no, I’m just, I just...you’re…the...” Paya struggled to keep her composure, and hid her face. 

Zelda chuckled again, the elder’s granddaughter continued to fumble her words and looked away at the vast expanse, falling away in herself like a hermit crab once more. 

“I'm not laughing at you, dear companion. You don't have to look away from me."

The girl turned her head to meet her gaze, if only for a moment. There was sadness in her eyes, and a deeper, crimson blush flooded her cheeks, as if the words she had wanted to say had escaped her and blew away in the thin, cold wind.

"I appreciate you listening to me ramble. If I happen to grow as close to you as I have, Link, you'll come to see what I'm capable of." She mumbled, her eyes focused on Paya, away from what lay before her. Perhaps this greenery and overgrowth would seem easier on her eyes one day as a bittersweet positive to this whole ordeal, as she couldn't recall seeing that much life teeming through Hyrule when she ruled. The entirety of Rito village was full of warblers encircling the village, habitating in the evergreen forests surrounding the village’s deep canyon pit, and off in the distance the birds went on and on like small flecks peppering the sky.

"I'd l-like that." Paya said simply, catching Zelda off guard. 

She smirked, a lock of her own frazzled hair fell in front of her face.

"How much of a catastrophe am I, right now?" Zelda asked, waiting for Paya to reluctantly study her face confusedly. 

"C-catastrophe? You look fine." 

"Ah, I'm sure you have good intentions, but I also have a sense that's untrue." she began, bumping the Shiekah slate she was given against the palm of her hand, and swiped to the left to pull up the front facing camera of the slate. She pouted at what she saw before her, her eyes were puffy, tears were sitting in small pools in her lower eyelids, her skin was flushed and her hair was sticking in directions that only a restless night of sleep could cause. "I'm even worse than I thought. You know," Zelda smirked and side-eyed her companion. "It's a criminal offense to be untruthful to whom you swear allegiance to. If you were under oath, you’d be dragged off and locked away." 

Paya pouted back in a much less playful manner, and furrowed her brow as Zelda continued to study her own features. She looked at her own teeth, under her chin and under the hair that covered some of her forehead. Everything seemed to be in...relative order.

"But y-you look..."

Zelda frowned at her reflection, and looked over at her companion. It took her a moment to realize Paya wasn't finishing her thought, and she noticed that she was stuck like a carriage in a muddy road. 

"I suppose I look how I feel." She stated, avoiding looking into her own eyes in her reflection, as if she’d let herself down just by saying something so sullen.

"So, you feel f-fine?" Paya asked optimistically. 

Zelda had to hold herself back from barking out a sharp scoff. While she wasn’t one for excessive vanity, she had a strict standard of how she preferred to be viewed. 

"No. I’m missing a number of things, I look like a disaster. My hair, my bloodshot eyes." She pulled a strand of her hair and smelled for the signature oils of the Gerudo shampoo bar she would often use, smelling like cactus fruits and lavender. Her heart ached, however, as the scent was less than that pleasant, familiar one. “And I smell of burnt hair.” 

"There's a b-bathhouse, in Impa village." 

This immediately got Zelda's attention, her spirits were suddenly stoked from a waning flame.

"Oh? Go on." She said with baited breath, eyes open wide with wonder. 

"Uhh, i-it started filling up once the last Divine Beast was tamed. It is like a hot spring." 

Zelda's skin tingled at the thought of a hot bath. A steamy, pristine hot spring that she could cocoon herself in the mists of, and let the healing waters relax her aching muscles. It was a luxury so far from her mind that the idea seemed foreign to her in that frigid place.

"You will have to show me as soon as we are free. After we visit Hateno. My body desperately needs it." 

The girl smiled and nodded, squinting her eyes at the sudden gust that hit them.

Sidon’s form seemed more intimidating with that coat flowing over his body as he moved to the center of the town. His head turned in all directions as he looked for the two of them, apparently not considering they would be watching from above. The wind howled again, and Zelda placed the slate in her front pocket, wanting more than anything to get away from the bitter cold.

“We’ll get frostbitten if we’re not careful. Let’s regroup with the prince, hm?” 

Paya hesitated, holding a hand out as if she wished to say something, but just as quickly put her hand back down at her side.

"We're up here, Prince! We'll be down in a moment!" 

"Glad to see you're still around, I figured you'd have gone back to the domain."

"Well that would be unfair," Zelda said with a laugh, "I came here alongside you, I'll leave in your company as well." 

Sidon hugged his coat to his person as they stepped on the first of the series of bridges out of Rito village, a draft picked up and hit the group and they all shuddered in unison.

"I got to speak with my favorite Rito from behind his cell's bars." He said amusedly. Zelda lifted a brow, the cold air felt alarmingly numb against her skin.

"I don't know how you could be around him after knowing what he did to Link. You're much more controlled than I."

Sidon let out a mischievous giggle.

"I  _ could _ hurt him. Or,  _ or,  _ I could do everything in my power to keep him from hurting anyone else for as long as I am able. I'll be sure to visit him regularly, of course. He will get quite lonely." 

"Was he not at all upset at you?"

"Oh, aha he was livid!" Sidon began in a confidently matter-of-fact tone. "He was  _ absolutely _ furious at me, and it was…well, it was wonderful. Therapeutic, even."

Zelda couldn't help but laugh at his uncouth amusement, thinking that his joy was rather well deserved.

"Goodness, I suppose that's the diplomatic way of going about revenge." Zelda noticed that Paya was attempting to step in the same footprints that she had left in the snow on the way there, ones that led all the way to the shrine in the distance, and she was watching her own rectangular, thick sandals intently. Zelda couldn't shake the conversation they had at the top of Rito village, how the girl had stuttered to a standstill just to stop completely from finishing her thought.

"Oh, after such an appearance, his beak was nearly stuck between the bars trying to get a wing to hit me. They're actually doing a wonderful job with their system, the rest of his little group were in their own cells as well. Kaneli said he was deciding to make more homes underground during their excavations." 

Zelda's eyes widened.

"That's a surprise." 

"I  _ know,  _ I've never so much as heard of Rito kind making changes to any villages in their history. Just the idea perplexes me." 

"I see it's not the only place that has made significant changes, either." 

Sidon wore an inquisitive look, and chuckled as he slapped his crest.

"Oh, the Great Corridor! Of course! It's been quite a long time since it's been up! I'll have to get you acquainted, it's a rather ambitious endeavor that paid off nicely."

"See what I mean?" Sidon asked, the view from directly behind King Dorephan's throne helped put the splendor of this long hall in much better detail, the occasional luminous stones lining the gigantic place lit up spots even the sun couldn't reach. The doors built into the walls differed in shape and size, material and engravings. But what caught her eye before all of these intricacies was the stunning, thoughtfully carved statue of Princess Mipha built in the middle of a circular platform against the back of King Dorephan's throne room. Zelda approached it wordlessly, and Paya followed behind. Its creamy marbling shined and glistened, everything on her body appeared so lifelike. She was at a loss for words, a mixture of happiness and hollow despair smouldered in her gut. All of her instincts told her otherwise, but this was indeed the last piece of her friend.

"It looks…just like her."

Sidon hummed a confirmation.

"She's been a symbol of our resiliency since the Calamity happened." 

Zelda missed a beat, staring into the pupil deficient eyes of the statue, they seemed to peer forward at something far off in the distance.

"How was it?" Zelda asked in the midst of a daydream. "How was meeting her again?"

Prince Sidon pushed his lower lip against his top, and struggled for a proper response. 

"It was, erm...a dream come true. A proper goodbye. I touched her, I hugged her. I didn't let go until she had faded from my grasp."

"Do you mind if I?..." She asked, her hand nearly touching the placard at the foot of the statue, on the pedestal from where she stood so proudly. Written in blocky text, was an epitaph. 

_ A gift from the sky. Lanyru blessed us with you. May your healing light never fade from our hearts. _

"Go ahead."

The words were bumpy, set against its smooth and polished backdrop. It was as lovingly done as the words were sweet and meaningful, and they tugged at Zelda's heartstrings.

"I remember her inauguration so vividly." She said with longing. "She stepped inside and it was like Vah Ruta had waited all that time for her."

She looked up to face Sidon, who was just breaking his glare at the statue to meet her gaze.

"Is that so? I don't remember that." His voice was weakened as he tried to recall this memory. "She told me it's our mother's blood that made Ruta accept us so easily."

Zelda chuckled, and nodded, her eyes growing misty. 

"I've no doubt about that.”

She heard the sounds of Paya’s wooden sandals approaching beside her. The wrappings on her feet were obviously still damp from the trip to Rito village, it was a wonder she didn't complain at all. She joined alongside Zelda, placing a hand on the perfectly shaped lining of the placard, her fingernails were chewed down to the beds of her nails. The elder’s granddaughter was silent as her eyes studied the statue, her gaze moved from Mipha’s feet to the top of her stoic, motherly expression. Paya's stare was imbued with a mixture of pride and confusion, a feeling not so easily read, a feeling that was perplexing for Zelda to study. 

Prince Sidon cleared his throat, and slid his coat from off his body. 

“If you’d like, I can show you the more impressive rooms in the Great Corridor. The library is where we’ve kept your reserve books, your copies of treaties and the like. Also, some of our elder scholars have spent the better part of a century translating old Zora texts to Hylian, making for some interesting accounts that you’d do well to dig into.” 

Zelda’s transfixation on the girl staring at the statue was broken. There was a visible reaction from Paya, she shifted and looked off toward one of the many small waterfalls that fell from the great corridor.

“I’m afraid it's getting rather late.” She said sadly, turning to the understanding red prince. “We should move to Hateno.”

“Of course!” He began, folding his coat politely over his arm. “Let me fetch Link, and we can go ahead.”

After his departure, Paya’s shoulders visibly relaxed, and she leaned back against the backside of Dorephan’s throne room. Zelda quickly did the same, but couldn't keep her eyes off of the aloof girl, tracing her gaze to find she was staring intently at the doors of the library, her arms crossed, and Zelda could immediately pick up on what was bothering her.

“Pardon me for being nosy,” Zelda stated, getting her guardian’s hesitant attention. “but…just what did Mona say to you earlier?”

The girl tensed up. 

“I-...she t-told me she doesn’t feel any differently about our friendship.” She looked down at her hands again like she did atop Rito village, and clicked what little fingernails she had together. 

"But you do, I'm guessing?"

Paya frowned, her angered eyebrows showed such dissatisfaction with herself.

“I know I shouldn’t, it’s just hard to see her as anything else. Even saying such a thing h-hurts. Am I a bad person?"

“Of course you aren't, Paya…That mustn’t have been all she said to you, yes?” 

“She just t-told me about all the things she appreciates about m-me, she mentioned all the times we opened up to one a-another, but that she can’t return my feelings.” 

“That’s horrible.” She stared her down silently, the white noise of falling water nearly kept her next words from being heard. 

"Perhaps...perhaps you need to detach yourself a bit." 

Paya looked over, wearing a pleading expression, one that begged her to drop the subject. The girl held her hand over her mouth, and took a deep breath on the brink of tears. 

“O-oh my.” She began, a dam in the nervous girl was threatening to burst. “It has been in the b-back of my mind, but I really don't want to think about it.”

Zelda chanced one more push.

“Perhaps it’s a good idea to keep your distance, for the time being. I know tha-”

Paya gripped her sleeves, shooting a glaring, tear filled gaze at her for a moment.

“I-I am not sure how I can d-do that, though! She l-lives with me! She and I sleep in such close quarters! I am stuck!” The shiekah girl was left panting, her heart rate was visibly skyrocketing, her breaths so quick and erratic. Her outburst reminded Zelda of a cornered animal, one that had no choice but to frustratingly cry out for help. Paya gripped her own chest, and her furrowed, silver eyebrows showed a mixture of anger and regret. 

Zelda glanced over where Sidon had gone to get Link, and noticed the two exiting and approaching at a casual pace, weaving through the crowds of people that filled the hall. She silently looked over, Paya’s eyes were filled with tears and were falling in a trail down and off the tip of her nose. She looked as though she was fully prepared to be berated, like she was ready to be screamed at for talking to royalty in such a way. 

“Paya,” Zelda began sweetly, her tone took the distressed girl off guard. “Please, calm yourself. If you need your space, I will ensure you get what you need. Some time alone shall do you good.” She looked back, the two were encroaching ever closer, crossing the bridge to meet them. She whipped her head back around to Paya. and spoke in a whisper. “Come dinnertime I will figure something out, is that satisfactory?” 

Paya’s eyes, sparkling with tears studied Zelda with confusion, as if her calming words were completely alien to her.

“I-... I d-don’t understand…”

Zelda giggled, holding a hand out to shake the poor girl by her shoulder from her stuttering transfixion. 

“Just say yes! Trust me!” She said, wearing a large smile. Paya was enduring sensory overload, and in a state of overwhelmed confusion, burst out with a sudden giggle as her tears began to slow. 

“O-okay, _*sniff* okay_ _y-yes!_ ”

She returned her show of happiness with a squeeze to her arm, and looked over at Sidon and Link, who were arriving with smiles and hellos. Link was fitted with a completely new outfit, one that surprised the princess and nearly made her choke on the lump it gave her in her throat. She was comfortably walking with short, tight fitting shorts along with her long sleeved shirt, and wore a sunhat with a brim nearly too wide for practical use, and as she turned a corner, Zelda saw she was wearing a rather cute, beige backpack fitted with numerous pockets.

Goodness, she looked adorable, and most of all, she passed as a woman fairly well.

Zelda felt a strange sense of pride.

“We’re all ready, yes?” Sidon asked.

“Y...yes, we’re ready.” Zelda said as she took the lead, looking her old companion up and down. "You look...I fear you pull off such a look much better than I could."

“Wuh! No I don’t!” Link giggled bashfully, taking a hand off of the strap of her backpack, and pulling her hat down, giving a toothy smile.

"I'm not trying to flatter you, I'm deadly serious! You look wonderful!"

“I got it all from a clothing store in Hateno, if you want we can stop by there while we’re there!”

She glanced down at her robes. Paya’s robes.   
“These are a smidge too tall for me, but I don't have any funds to buy anything.” 

Sidon chuckled, shaking his head like she had said something ridiculous. 

“You’re in wealthy company, just choose something you like when we arrive.” 

“J-just let me, I h-have plenty.” Paya said, coming up close beside her and showing the girl a satchel of rupees that she kept in her robe. She looked over, the Paya was genuinely trying to get Zelda to grab onto the bag, and had a look of determination etched into her face. Her tiny eyebrows showed such insistence.

“Goodness.” She took an unsure hold of the cloth sack, and felt its weighty, jingling contents in the palm of her hand. “We’ll see when we arrive, then.”

“Are you certain, Paya? I’m more than capable of providing funds.” Sidon said assuringly, followed quickly by Link. 

“Me too. Bokoblin are stupid and leave behind a lot of shiny things I still have.” 

“Y-yes, it's the least I can do.” Paya wore a nervous smile, trying not to keep direct eye contact, but Zelda could feel the genuineness of her tone all the same.

"I don't remember you being so afraid of dead stuff, Zelda." Link said, watching amusedly as Zelda passed the sitting, mummified monk placed squarely on the table in Hateno's shrine with her sleeve over her mouth.

"I'm not  _ afraid  _ of it. Also, it's not just 'dead stuff', it's a  _ person,  _ Link. And it smells of formaldehyde." 

"It's a mummy, though."

Zelda scoffed, rolling her eyes as she refused to turn around behind her to glare daggers into the girl.

"We should hope no one got hurt in Hateno. That might be worse than seeing a mummy." Link said, making Zelda's skin crawl under her robes.

“Well, if we’re lucky, the assault slowed to a halt after we took out that wave that attacked Hateno the other night.” Sidon said nervously as the four stepped onto the elevator, unphased as the group was skyrocketed upward with a steady force. The day was old, the sun hung low as it revealed itself from the dense forest around her, sinking slowly into an evening dim. It smelled of cooked food, of farm animals and turning leaves mingling with the forest air. It was not strong enough to overwhelm her senses, but it was...a distinct smell, one that could only come with such a large, melting pot of culture in harmony. It was Hateno, for certain, but bigger than she remembered. More flourished and pronounced, just as the forest that hugged against it was bigger and more dense, the buildings that lined all the way up to the windmill at the very cliffs edge facing the sea were broader and larger by numbers, making the one that Link owned seem ancient, decrepit and meek by comparison as she stepped into the towns square and witnessed its vine crept walls, its old brick and mossy stone, and its foggy windows. It did not feel as though this place waited for her while she was in stasis, but it felt familiar in spirit. It felt familiar in the same way the small towns in the roads of Hyrule Field felt familiar, just with its own, colorful veneer across its surface.

Sidon and Link breathed a sigh of relief. People of all races and credences passed the group by, a town not ready to wind down as the day grew closer to its end.

“A village unharmed. I assumed this place would have gotten it the worst.”

“Why is that?” Zelda asked the tall prince, who strolled casually over to Link’s house and nudged at the door. It appeared to be stuck.

“Because, as soon as we… _ got  _ here, Link’s presence alone got their attention.” He pulled the door, it was let free by it’s stuck hinges. “We didn't even have time to lock this door, my love. Good to see not much has changed, they probably fixed what they needed to and everything has gone back to normal since.”

"I'm just not sure who to talk to about rebuilding Hyrule castle." Link mused aloud, fishing for a key in a small back pocket of her shorts and properly locking the rotted wood door, as if it would actually do much. "Should we talk to Bolson, Deene?" 

"Probably a good idea to check in with Deene." Sidon said, his eyes affixed a ways off the road, past the few traders still set up near tented sections of the large road."He's most likely in the rec center."

"Bolson, you say?" Zelda asked. "Does he have any relation to Twoson?"

Link gave her a quizzical look. Right, why would she know who that is?

"Is Twoson the guy that sold me this house?" 

Zelda smiled slightly, and nodded, glancing over and studying how this one little building was stuck out of time, how it was crouched and overgrown, decayed compared to the big, bright buildings that surrounded it.

"I secured this lot for you, compeer. Twoson built it to your own demands. He and I wanted to make it bigger, but you didn't want such a large place. Perhaps it's Bolson we should be speaking with." 

Link lifted her hat up a bit, letting the sun shine on her blushing cheeks.

"You helped me get this place?" She asked timidly, her eyes glimmering in the late daylight.

She stepped around the tall, unkempt grass, the vegetation housed many forms of insect life, such as a beetle that loudly flitted away and stuck to the front door of her old guardian's abode. Her tone grew rather serious.

"You.  _ Hated.  _ The bunks. Link. Even the ones meant  _ just  _ for you and my father's highest ranking officers. Everytime I sent you off for the night you would nearly go limp. You were like a sad puppy. This was your getaway when we came through Hateno, which was fairly often. A place for you to decompress when you had the free time." 

Zelda had done it, apparently. The thin, pale girl was walking toward her with her arms outstretched, dead set on embracing her. It appeared her old friend didn't remember her rules about touching. She felt the wind knocked out of her as the girl wrapped her arms around her in a hug. 

" _ Oof, Link." _

"What?" She said, her androgynous voice was muffled in the shoulder of Zelda's robes. 

"You smell very strongly of mint. It hurts my nostrils. Goodness, what do you bathe with?" 

"It's...not soap." Zelda politely pushed her back, and inhaled a breath of fresh air away from the girl's chest. "It's pregnant horse pee lotion."

"It's  _ what?!"  _ She stammered, her polite tone was wavering. "The treatment given to menopausal women?!" 

"Yeah. And me." Link's unphased, unsurprised expression was bordering on ridiculous to the girl. "I take it to...well, look more like I want to." 

Zelda took pause, her arm shielding her from the overpowering smell she'd caught wind of, and she studied the girl's confused features. 

"I thought it was the resurrection chamber that made you look..softer…Let me see your hands."

"S...softer? My hands?"

Zelda's curiosity had piqued, she took Link's hand, soft and void of calluses, free of cuts and bruises, save for one fading purple and blue one showing on her right arm as Zelda pulled up her sleeve. She surprised her as she lifted her friend's sunhat up and marveled at how subtly different her face appeared, a deepening red fell over her flustered face.

"Mm, your cheekbones, they're just a bit higher. Your hands and arms. My, you're like a different person." 

"I'm not, though."

Zelda's gaze moved from Link's hands, all the way up to her sapphire eyes.

"I know, compeer, I know." She said quietly, putting her sleeve back in its correct position. "I apologize.” She said plainly, letting the girl's wrist go and taking a step back. “I forget we're not as acquainted as we used to be, so perhaps that was overstepping my boundaries. You're more you now than you were before, this suits you so well. I'm...awfully proud of you."

Link was silent, before giving her a teary eyed sniffle, and held her arms out for another hug. 

"No no, Link, n- * _ oof* _ "

"Sorry." She mumbled. 

Zelda sat motionless, powerless to this embrace, and looked over at Paya, who was grinning to herself as she watched her plight. The vice-gripped girl gave her a pleading look, a silent cry for help, which only got a sudden, stifled giggle from her guard.

“No more sudden hugging, please.” She pulled away with a hand over her nose, and gave a smile to let her know she was not upset. “Okay.” She looked up to the tall prince, and smiled. “Twoson’s son, Bolson. That’s who I wish to speak to.” 

Sidon scratched his face, he was joined quickly by the big hat wearing girl walking closely to his side.

“If he’s anywhere, it’ll be alongside the scholars.”

Zelda nodded wordlessly.

“Let’s head there, then.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank. You. For. Reading. 
> 
> Hey look at that I updated the pairings, whoooooop
> 
> I love you all c:


	42. I'm a pumpkin!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LINK IN A PUMPKIN SWEATER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That 250,000 milestoooone c:

The people that they passed gave Sidon and Link glances. They whispered hushed, worried murmurs among the people they were with, the traders were talking to each other and pointing from the stands they owned. The smells were gradually changing as they walked across the brown dirt road, from earthy forest, to alcohol and food as they passed a bar, Its orange and yellow lantern light leaked out of the double doors along with the sounds of drunken patrons, and soon after, the smells of salty, oceanic air cut loose a chunk of memories she held about Hateno, when it was much, much smaller and more sparse.

Back then, this place was meant for sailors and farmers, a place for the many to take bounties from the earth and the sea, and it had grown so much since. Its farmers were now more seasoned, middle aged men and women watched over their children from their porches, keeping an eye on them as they pulled crops for the fall season. It was hectic, but methodical. Controlled chaos, one that knows schedules by instinct and winds up and down on its own. The kind Zelda was rather used to in her own town, which this closely resembled.

“Oh, that’s him!” Link said excitedly, pointing to a pink bandana wearing man, an abstract painting of a human being sitting in front of a small building near the outskirts of the town. This building stood out from the rest, a wooden cabin-like thing with a bulletin board taped up on wooden slats outside of its front. The bald, bearded Hylian sat on a wooden stool, watching over a flame with two others, a stout, bowl cutted man, and a rather fit, young man, with a sledgehammer leaning against the tree stump he sat upon. They both were in stark contrast to Bolson’s style, who wore a leopard printed blue jacket and pink pants. 

“Link! Mr. Prince!” The bearded, especially pointy-eared Hylian said enthusiastically as he noticed the two. “Look at the two heros! A supercouple, lovers from different lands come together to save the realm!” The man stood, and gave a big hug to the receptive girl, and politely shook the hand of the prince, before going in for a quick hug. Zelda watched as the muscular man in Bolson's company stood up and walked up next to him, while the third sat with a wooden cup, taking sips and watching idly. “Proud of you two. I got to see your boyfriend wrangle the life out of a couple of unfortunate baddies, it was quite the sight. Then, just like that, you two poofed.” 

“We’ve actually come to talk about what happened after.” Sidon began, the bandana wearing man put his hands on his hips. “First of all, did you all sustain too much damage from the attack?” 

Bolson looked around, and shrugged energetically. 

“What, other than a couple of bruises? We’re tougher than we seem, here. Karson here got a couple of the things with his sledgehammer.” He patted the man’s exposed abs with the back of his hand, which got him to crack a smile from his stoic stance. “More entertaining than any play I've ever been to!”

“So, there’s nothing preoccupying your time as of now? No repairs? No projects?” Sidon asked, his curious lilt got an inquisitive brow raised on the man’s makeup kissed face. 

“Why d’ya ask, hm?” He looked over at Zelda, and over to Paya, before the cogs incorrectly clicked in his mind, and he smiled. “What, do we have a couple that’s looking for a new home?" He clapped his hands together, interlocking his own fingers and leaning his head on them romantically. "Ah, how kind of you, princey, Link, bringing the customers right to my doorstep.”

Zelda's face flushed, she stepped forward and assumed a sternly corrective tone. 

“No, it’s much more important than one home.”

“Two homes? A vacation home? How wealthy are you?” 

Zelda frowned, and cut straight through to the introductions for the eccentric man.

“I am Zelda. I am the former princess of Hyrule.” 

The man’s expression grew awestruck, revealing his eyeshadow dusted eyelids, the color of sunsets. He looked over to his familiar acquaintances, and asked wordlessly if she was serious.

“She’s serious.” Link said plainly, unsuccessfully trying to swat a bug from crawling up her leg without breaking eye contact.

“What’s my father’s name?” Bolson asked, his stance took on an interrogative nature. He certainly was....spunky, just like his late father was. She had no intent of playing games, but went along regardless.

“Twoson.” 

His eyebrows shot up, and he slowly nodded. 

“Easy.” The man stated smugly, pointing a finger at who he had doubts of. “What was the name of his construction company!?”

Zelda paused, and cycled a deep sigh through her lungs. 

“...Twoson and Sons.”

He gasped, and held a hand over his bearded face, looking back to his workers with a puzzled, amazed expression.

“She really is Zelda. My old man talked an awful lot about the work you’d give to him.  _ Your  _ old man kept  _ my  _ old man afloat when Hateno was an itty bitty baby of a coastal town. A couple of old men lookin out for one another.”

“Well I have a lot more plans, if you’d be so kind as to let me continue.” 

Bolson recoiled, his offended expression quickly fell away to an impressed, cheeky look.

“I’m all ears, goddess. Lay it on me.”

Zelda cleared her throat, and glanced over to her Shiekah guard. She was apparently still covered in a crimson blush from Bolson’s earlier misconception, and her stern look was oddly locked onto Bolson. 

“You helped make...all of this, correct?” she gestured around her, to the lovely, large homes of Hateno that hugged against the road. 

“I didn’t do the legwork! I hire people, I make blueprints, I sign deeds, and I shake hands.  _ And _ I watch what I plan get built from the comfort of a fold-out chair. It really isn’t special.” He patted his own bicep, a faux show of his lack of muscles. “Have you seen these arms? I couldn’t lift a hammer if I wanted to.” 

Zelda’s brow shot up, this man’s overzealous demeanor was beginning to grate against the grain of her patience. She shook her head, and gestured a hand over to Hateno. 

“Oh, no, it’s quite impressive. Special is the perfect word for this town.” She looked him up and down, just as he did, her. “I want you to help rebuild Castle Town.” 

His fellows showed a shocked surprise. The moustached, bowl cutted one nearly choked on his drink, but Bolson simply moved his hands to his jacket, and readjusted it before smiling politely. 

“That’s a pretty interesting offer. What’s in it for me?”

Her brow furrowed.

“A generous share of the wealth that flows into the village. Just like Hateno, I gather.” 

He barked a quick laugh, and shook his head. 

“I don’t care about all that! Money is an illusion. See, I want  _ creative _ input. You can pay my guys whatever you want.”

Zelda frowned, pursing her lips and keeping herself from berating him for stepping on her offer like the way he did. 

“Creative input?” She asked mockingly. “I’m asking if you wish to take the previous blueprint for my father’s village, assign workers, and help me build my town from where it once stood. I will not give you creative freedoms for that. There's a method to this.”

“Oh, come  _ on _ , royalty, I’m not asking for much.” He pleaded, hands motioning a prayer with his palms pressed together. “Homes are art, this town is art. Art is forever! It’s special what I can direct, you said it yourself! I can give you the village of the  _ now,  _ those old town homes are archaic!” 

Zelda gave a stern, exhausted look over to Paya, who was looking rather angrily at the man pleading with her. 

"I'm going to be as succinct as possible." She said, her eyes locked on his, and her voice threatening to break. "I was kept dormant in a chamber a common person would mistake for a coffin for the better part of a century, and I have awoken to realize most of the people I ever held close to me have  _ died.  _ The  _ least  _ I can look forward to is something that resembled the home I had  _ stolen  _ from me!" Red hot anger blurred her vision, her fists balled so tightly she could turn coal into diamonds. "So if you will not take my offer, then I have no need for you!"

There was a silence between the two of them, the group she came in with crowded closer to come to her aid as she sniffled to herself, and Zelda reflexively shriveled back as Link's hand touched her shoulder.

She stared daggers at Bolson, unrelenting and furious, the tops of her cheeks were wet with tears.

"You. Are. Expressive." He said under his breath, cracking a small smile and chancing a step forward. "Your father did quite a bit for mine and me, loads more than we could have ever hoped for. Gave my dad a... _ means  _ to be creative. Also left me with quite a large lump sum so I could live as  _ creatively  _ as I like. Here, please, don't cry, now." He produced a handkerchief from his shirt pocket, to which she held a hand out in protest, her anger smouldering.

"Do not  _ toy  _ with me, do not patronize me! I'm in no mood!" She growled. 

The man held a hand up, signifying surrender as he pocketed his kerchief. 

"Show me the blueprints. Not messin around, honest." 

She frowned, her gaze went through the worried expressions of her friends, and she produced the roll of papers outlining the village at its most basic. Atop the brownish parchment read 'Finalized projections for Castle Town'. 

He rolled it open with his manicured hands, showing it to the muscular man behind him for a moment and pointing out a few things in a whispered breath. He clicked through the sides of his mouth.

"Okey-doo. This is fine. Old-school stuff." He said plainly. "I have one condition, and I promise you it's a small one. It's practically microscopic." As he said this, he emphasized his point by putting his thumb and index finger mere millimeters from one another. 

"Certainly." She said with a curt exhale. 

"See here?" He mentioned in a low tone, taking one long stride to stand up close next to her, and gestured at an empty plot near the front gate of the village. She fought against taking a side-step away, and nodded.

"Mm, I do." 

"It's an empty lot. Probably reserved for a person who planned to make their own home at their own pace on their own dime, all under the king's supervision." 

Zelda pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to work out a coming headache from all the stress she was under. The bathhouse in Impa village continued to sound more and more inviting. 

"Yes. And you wish to acquire this lot."

"Oh!" He said happily, quickly but carefully folding the papers back up himself. "A mind reader! Yes! I want an art museum."

Surprised, she looked back up at Bolson. He looked genuine, he stated his demands so plainly and seriously, there was no air of whimsy that surrounded it.

An art museum. Her father would be rolling in his grave if she let this happen, but the idea intrigued her, as it was something that had crossed her mind many times in the past. She had even spoken to Urbosa of it several times, as Zelda was always rather envious of how deep Gerudo culture was in their artistic ventures. Even their stony walls were something to be marveled at, as if every brick told a story.

"Art is a means to overcome adversity. I can see it now, the young and old, their accounts of hardship and merriment will be the driving brushstrokes on canvases for all to see! I think your town will need it, don't you?" 

She looked him dead in the eye, and an agreeing smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"I do." She admitted, clearing her throat to reaffirm her regal stance. "It's yours, Bolson." 

"Seriously? Hah! Okee-doo then, let's hug on it!" 

Zelda took a generous step back, and reluctantly held out a waiting hand. 

"A handshake will suffice, methinks. And if you could, I'd like  _ my  _ copy of the blueprints. You'll get your own tomorrow." He missed a beat, and confusedly handed her the blueprints. 

"You staying for the night, or something?"

She shook her head, grabbing the Shiekah slate and bringing up the map. She gestured at the transportation rooms from Hateno's own shrine, to another in Hyrule Field.

"You can travel from here to here, instantaneously."

"Oh yeah, that magic room thingy with the dead guy in it. Your freckled friend let us know about that one."

"Mm. The transport itself is rather simplistic. Should you need help, the Zora scholar here will know how to go about using it. Tomorrow, I'm going to be holding a rally in my father's colosseum at noon. All the corners of Hyrule are welcome to join. I plan for Renno of Kakariko and his workers to be the heads of the castle's construction, and I plan to have you be at the forefront of Castle Town's restoration, but you  _ will  _ be acquiring the necessary documents to help from him, as well as any materials you will need. Will you be there?" 

"Woah jeez, that's all reeeaal official stuff." He said, scratching his beard and sharing glances with his companions.

"I do enjoy being thorough. Can I expect your arrival?"

The man paused for dramatic effect, before clicking his tongue again, and shrugging with his hands at shoulder level. 

"I guess. We  _ did  _ shake on it, and I  _ do  _ want that museum lot."

"Wonderful." She said quickly, stashing her papers and slate back in her clothes. "It's been nice coming to an agreement, Bolson."

There was a moment of small talk between Link and the three sitting around the fire, she and Bolson were discussing his father’s legacy as a builder, how he came to help shape homes in Hateno. Zelda looked around her, and saw some of the miniature, black metal fire pits of pine resin and wood set ablaze by citizens to light the town at night, as everything seemed to be winding down around her. The sparks and embers that fell away and floated above from the pits illuminated the air like fireflies. The smell of fresh fire, like the ones of twigs and tree bark Urbosa set when the desert nights became too cold, when Zelda and her team’s excavations of the Divine beast Vah Naboris led too long into the night, when the myriad of stars laid bare the desert sands with hues of white and blue moonlight, an endless sea of grains. That was the smell she experienced in that moment, and the feeling it gave her quickly changed from sweet, to bitter.

She felt a hand at her shoulder, the nervous girl beside her broke her from her melancholic musings and whispered to her.

“A-are you alright?” 

She thought she would have to fight the urge to recoil from her touch. It was odd, though, how Paya’s soft spoken voice kept her shoulder in that same place.

“Hm? Why would I not be, Paya?” Zelda looked at the tall grass as it swayed in the evening breeze. 

“Just...a-after that. After what you said.” 

She took a deep breath.

“I will not be okay, for quite some time. But it does feel nice to have someone who asks."

"Why won't you come in with us?" Link asked Sidon pleadingly, tugging on his arm in front of the shop. The Hateno settled store had a wooden post, a dark sign in the shape of a royal crest, its face was painted in bright white calligraphy, titling it the 'Ventest Clothing Boutique'. A name so fancy for such a homely town that Zelda had to keep herself from rolling her eyes at it. 

Through the cracks in the door, light was spilling forth, and the faint sound of a woman humming was heard from behind it.

“I never said I wouldn’t, I just said the room just a tad too small for me. I bumped my head last time, dearest.”

“I know you did! The lady who owns the place called you cute! We both did!” 

“Goodness, you say that like you wish for me to do it again.” He mumbled as he pushed the door forward, crouching down and entering with his eyes cautiously searching the low ceiling.

"See, I'll crouch with you. Do you feel normal now? We look like hunchbacks."

Sidon stifled a laugh, and nudged her with the side of his arm. 

"I suppose so, goofy girl."

Paya’s presence was felt close behind her, the girl’s sword knocked against the door frame and got Zelda to look behind her. 

“Wo-hoah, an armed Shiekah girl. And the tall Zora man.” The tired woman said from the front desk, her chin leaning on her hand on a desk of thick, dark brown wood. She was tall, very thin with a head of voluminous, greying blond poofy hair. Her clothes were tight to her thin frame, her stylistic choices were...interesting. “Welcome to my boutique, everybody. I just put up my fall line. Summer stuff is in clearance right now. In the big pile in that corner.”

The mannequins sat against the walls of the cramped store, each wearing a different set of clothing. The store smelled of lavender oils, mixing with a hint of a floral aroma she couldn’t quite pinpoint. Whatever it was, it was pleasant enough.

These certainly weren't things she’d ever wear. She studied them one by one, noting most of them were strictly female clothes. A sweater, a fall dress embroidered with leaf shapes that did well to cover most of the body, small jackets that served little purpose other than fashion. 

Where was anything practical? Something with  _ pockets,  _ for Hylia’s sake. Something she could depend on. Her eyes locked onto a set.

_ Here’s something more suited to my taste.  _

This mannequin had on most of the things she could see wearing. None of these articles were sewn by her esteemed seamstresses, so they would lack the proper care and finesse she was used to, but it was similar to something she had worn before the calamity. 

As a matter of fact, the more she looked, the more similarities she began to notice. Long boots, ashy black and up nearly to knee level, along with a black pair of tight fitting pants. Goodness, even a pair of  _ gloves  _ similar to the ones she had lost; light, full fingered brown leather with interiors as soft as a bear plush. The jacket it came with was a tad underwhelming, tan and lined with just enough pockets, with large overlapping diamond shapes embroidered on the back. 

It would serve its purpose, perhaps it would even grow on her. Tying it all together, however, was a long, curiously regal looking dark blue cloak. If it bore the insignia of the triforce, it would be a carbon copy of the one she used to own, her favorite thing to wear to save her skin from being battered by the sun and sands on her trips to the Gerudo desert. Perhaps this look was normal when she was in power, and it had survived the calamity by way of mouth. 

Zelda took pause, and wondered if she was a bit of a trendsetter. She had lost herself for a moment, looking through the more necessary things, such as underwear, simplistic shirts and the like. Even a backpack made of the same material as the jacket she was prepared to pick out. It was big, befit for a camper who kept their entire possessions in one place.

She noticed from the corner of her eye that Paya was looking alongside her silently, her fingers touching the material of a bright red, thin scarf.

"Do you plan to get something, too?" 

Paya startled, and snapped to quick attention. 

"N-no...I only really w-wear these." She gestured to her own clothes, and smiled awkwardly. "I'm just looking. I've never been to a clothing shop." 

Zelda looked her up and down, biting her cheek from going too in depth about her opinions of the samey robed wear of all of Shiekah people. Paya continued to look at the fabric. Her expression was one of longing. 

"You know, your grandmother rarely wore her assigned guardian wear." 

The girl raised a brow, and turned her head to meet her eye to eye.

"What do you m-mean?"

"When she protected my father she wore street wear, all Hylian garb, and wore light armor underneath to blend in among the people. It was rather ingenious,  _ and  _ rather funny that she did it despite my father's objections. A tricky fox, my father's handmaidens would call her."

"She wore H-Hylian clothing?" She said, amazed, her hand going back to a jacket she was looking at previously. She pinched the jacket and ran it between her thumb and index finger, leather with a light brown sheen. Long sleeves down to the wrists with thick brown buttons on each sleeve affixed to a strap to fold a cuff back. Underneath it was a long sleeved cream white undershirt, and rather thick dark green tight pants. A pair of simple, brown strapped flats completed it all.

"She did. Almost all the time." She said. Her voice was soft, coaxing, spoken to convince. "I think you would look wonderful in that."

Paya frowned, shaking her head while blushing, and let out a frustrated chuckle.

"N-no...I really shouldn't."

She looked over at Zelda worriedly. She was just a nudge away from being convinced, like she was standing at the end of a plank and was fearing being pushed into a swarm of sharks in the sea below. Her eyes were so dark brown in that dim room, it was hard to tell where her pupils ended and her irises began. She looked like an innocent doe, trapped and transfixed by bright lantern light.

"You like them, do you not?" Zelda said, feeling a growing smile stretch across her face. "Try them on."

She pursed her lips together, before gripping the shirt with a spark of excitement after a moment more of thought. Goodness, she was like an oil soaked torch, lighting up in an instant and brightening the room with her smile, the biggest grin Zelda had seen from her all day, one that stopped Zelda's thought process like an interruption would with her words. 

Her mind was blank as she was looked upon by the grinning girl, before Paya finally broke the silence.

"O-okay, yes. I will! I'm j-just..." She looked around, and after gathering what she wanted to try on, she stood even more confused. "I don't know where to try them on."

"Erm," Zelda craned her head around the shop, the owner looked nearly asleep by the front desk, and Sidon was standing near a thin looking, wooden door. "I think Link is using the changing room, let's go stand by the prince, hm?" 

Paya squeezed the clothes in her hands, looking down at them and finally back to her. Her excitement was nearly palpable, it seeped through even the shortest of words she spoke.

"O-okay!"

Sidon perked up at their approach, quirking his brow at Zelda's bundle of clothes, before his eyes widened at the sight of Paya's. 

"You're trying something on, Paya? Or is that for Zelda?"

Link heard this, apparently, as a loud  _ thump  _ sounded against the wooden walls from behind the door, shaking the store owner out of her sleepy state.

"Paya's trying something on?!" She said loudly, muffled by the door. The store owner yawned, and Paya began stuttering an affirmative.

"Y-y...y-yes!"

Link stumbled out of the room, which was cramped, poorly lit and claustrophobic by the looks of it. Link was wearing a thick sweater, white with a bright orange pumpkin embroidered on the chest. The warm garment was a bit of a contrast with her short shorts, but it looked adorable nonetheless, if a bit tacky. The sleeves were nearly too big for her small frame.

"Oh Link, you're…" The prince stuttered as he looked her up and down. His eyes were wide with adoration.

"I'm a pumpkin!" 

Sidon held his hand over his mouth, and fell quiet, completely awestruck. A bright blue blush overtook his cheeks.

"Yes you are." He said weakly, as if his senses were overloading at what he was witnessing.

"Go ahead, Paya." Zelda urged her on. The girl shook her head no, her poofy hair wiggled just a bit. 

"W-why don't you go, first? You picked out your outfit before I did, after all."

Zelda frowned, and gripped the grouping of clothes in her arms.

"I'm afraid of dirtying them, I wish to wait until I bathe. Erm, you are okay with me getting this much, yes?"

"Mm," She hummed sweetly, nodding her head. "Like I said, it's the l-least I can do."

"Least you can do?" She asked, surprisedly. "After you yourself dealt with the cold of Hebra in sandals to guard me?"

"Yeah." She said simply, and turned away after a moment of awkward hesitation. The girl walked away with a question answered that only left more to be asked.

She shut the door behind her, and Zelda looked to Link, who was just turning around to see her. 

"You look fantastic, Link." She said sincerely, hesitating and double-taking the two bumps on her chest. She knew she had a bra on before, but did not consider it was...permanent. These indeed looked real. Small, yes, but real nonetheless.

Zelda's face lit up as Link beamed a happy grin. She had a hard time not studying them, questioning their very existence. 

"Thank you! I'm gonna wear it for the Harvest Nocturn. I'm probably gonna get it pretty dirty when I carve a pumpkin.

"The Nocturn is happening soon?" Zelda asked longingly, remembering the decorations on doorknobs and windows, the costumed children going from door to door in Castle Town's streets during the autumn season for boiled sweets, candied lime and plums. Thinking of her town brought back now soured memories like bile in the back of her throat.

“Yes!” Sidon said with a chipper tone. “It’s in six days. Is it five days? I forget.” 

“It’s five. I don’t know if people are going to do much, now that I think about it. Now that you’re here, everyone will be too excited to think about it.”

Zelda furrowed her brow, dismissively shaking her head. 

“Nonsense, I’ll be celebrating, myself. It’s one of my favorite holidays, after all. Holidays bring people together, that’s what Hyrule needs, right now.”

Sidon smiled a huge, toothy grin, and held out a determined fist. 

“That’s the spirit!”

“Does that mean we get to carve pumpkins with you?” Link asked optimistically. 

Zelda remembered carving pumpkins, her skin crawled at how absolutely disgusting cleaning them of their flesh and seeds was. She remembered bathing for an hour after that fiasco, how the slime wouldn’t disappear from under her fingernails.

“N...no, I think I'm more fit to watch.”

She was interrupted by a  _ bang  _ in the dressing room, which got all of their immediate attention.    
“Aah, s-sorry!” Paya said loudly from the little glorified closet.

The prince chuckled, giving a quick, confused glance to Link.

“You alright in there?” He asked amusedly. 

“I b-bumped my elbow! My hair is caught...in this sh-shirt! I’ll get it!” 

Continued rustlings were heard from inside the door, and they all sort of stood there and listened as a sequence of events unfolded that Zelda could only imagine as they happened. 

“Do you need assistance?” Zelda asked, her curious tone nearly taken by her stifled smile. 

“Ow, ow ow. No, I-I am okay, really.”

She was very poor at convincing any of them. 

_ Thump!  _

“Ow!” 

It sounded like she bumped her head. As much as it concerned her, her struggle was now beginning to make her giggle, just as it was Sidon and Link. Zelda cleared her voice, and put on an authoritative tone. 

“I’m going to assist you if you can’t fix it. Is Hylian clothing all that different from Shiekah robes?” 

“I think, I-I’m not sure. I don't k-know how this happened!” 

Zelda put what clothes she had on the shop’s counter, and quickly strode over to the slatted door of the changing room.

Paya must have heard. She was protesting as she audibly struggled to free herself, bumping awkwardly into the sides of the walls.

“No, hnng, I s-swear I have it, j-just…” All at once, she stopped moving and she sighed defeatedly, before mumbling something under her breath. Perhaps it was in Shiekah, as Zelda could not understand a word of it. “Okay... y-you can come in.”

Zelda tentatively opened the door, blocking it with her body, and slid in. It was like stepping in a different dimension, where claustrophobia was as common as air. Her eyes took their time adjusting to the low light. Paya’s arms were above her head, struggling to untie something in her hair. It was hard to discern with a simple, deep orange lantern glow in the upper corner and the sparse light coming in through the slats in the door, but It wasn't hard at all to tell that Paya’s robe and shirt were completely off. Even if Zelda couldn’t see much, her face lit up like a campfire at the shape of her.

Her mouth grew dry, she could see the definition of her stomach, the slight grooves of her toned muscles.

She had no idea she’d be so...fit. 

“Put your arms down.” She said, trying not to let her nerves show through her soft spoken voice, and lifted her own arms to let her fingers search for what the girl was fumbling with. 

“I t-think I got the shirt caught in my hair fastenings, and every time I t-t-try to fix it, it just gets more caught. I can’t take it off, I can’t put it on, e-either.” 

She sounded so nervous, so exhausted. Her breathing was deep and heavy, enough to humidify the small space they were in. It smelled overwhelmingly of her, like roses and sweat, like turning leaves and soil, and her body radiated heat so strongly that Zelda could feel it through the front of her robes, heating up her stomach, her chest. They were pressed together so very closely. Paya’s breathing slowed, and she held it to keep herself from trembling. Zelda wanted nothing more than to tell her there was nothing to be nervous about, but even she couldn’t find the words to say it. 

Suddenly, she felt it.

_ Ah, the knot.  _

An epiphany, her searching fingers found the spot in the sea of white hair. The knot had to be kneaded and coaxed slowly to be untied. A long white string was coming off of the shirt, one that coiled itself around her large hair tie. She let it loose, and gently pulled the shirt down and over her head. She didn’t quite know when was the right time to stop helping, so she awkwardly pulled the cloth down past her shoulders and all the way down to her midriff.

“Take your hair down before you dress, next time.”

She heard her breath stop from slow and erratic, and didn’t expect Paya’s quiet, nervous voice would sound so loud to her ears as she spoke her next words carefully. 

“I-I will.” Her voice bounced off of the cramped walls, enveloped her, made Zelda’s skin grow goosebumps and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. “I’ll b-be out in just a second.” Her words came to her from all around. Was her voice a calming sound? Was it stressful?

This feeling was too strange to pinpoint, too overwhelming to analyze. 

“I look forward to seeing how you look.” She said as she slid herself out of the room, her nerves threatening to crack her voice like an egg once more.

She needed to take a second to breathe, she pretended to fiddle with the creases on her robe.

“You got it?” Link asked, her backpack now on her person, her black top’s sleeve was spilling out of the opening. 

Zelda walked over to push the girl’s sleeve back in her bag, catching her breath like she had just risen from the bottom of the ocean itself. 

“Yes, it was caught. I’m not even sure how she managed that, frankly.” 

“My u-undershirt has a zipper.” She clarified from behind the door. “I d-don’t have to put anything over my h-head.”

“You didn’t put your hair down? You have so much of it. Also, you’ve never worn a shirt you put over your head?!” Link asked, watching the door as Zelda rifled through the clothes she wanted to get, trying to hide her still reddened face.

“I have not, n-not ever. O-okay, I’m coming out now.” She pushed open the creaky door, standing awkwardly as ever with her shoulders slumped, her hands tucked behind her. 

“Woah!” Link said breathily. “You look amazing!”

“My goodness!” The prince exclaimed. “That fits you so well! You did a wonderful job choosing your first outfit!” 

The former princess had a much harder time putting her thoughts into words.

Zelda approached, taking small steps to look the worried girl up and down more clearly. It was a bit difficult even for her to look the girl in the eye after what had just happened, but the blood-colored red of the scarf caught her eye. That small thing, tied erroneously around her neck, showing much too much skin to be practical brought attention to the similarly colored tattoo on her forehead.

“Do  _ you _ like it?” Zelda asked. 

“I- I don’t know.” She admitted, and Zelda reached in her pocket for the slate, handing it over to her with the front facing camera opened. 

Her surprised, elated expression told Zelda all she needed to know, and the two came to the same conclusion at the same time. 

"Do you know now?" She asked, waiting expectantly for that bright flame of happiness she had seen earlier. 

Paya stared at herself for a moment longer, her eyes glimmering a reflection of the slate in her hands. She looked up to meet her eye to eye, nodded firmly, and took the words right out of Zelda's mouth. 

"I look like...m-me!"

Zelda's heart skipped a beat, and she smiled as Paya scanned herself and marveled at how she looked. She practically counted the seconds of Paya's unbroken, joyous reaction, how long she kept that bright smile on her face. It was so...infectious. She hung onto every little facial movement, every small gasp and stifled giggle. 

"D-do I have to take them off to buy them?"

For some reason, everyone's gazes gravitated towards Sidon. He held up his hands apologetically and chuckled.

"You all look as though I'd know the answer!"

"Well,” Link began, tugging the bottom hemming of her sweater and looking at it with wonder. “I'm buying this sweater and I don't plan on taking it off, so...we might as well ask."

The shop owner looked wide eyed at the pile of clothes in Zelda's arms, like she'd just made the sale of a lifetime.

"Uhh,” The sleepy woman mumbled, distracted, before looking over at Paya’s new attire. “Yeah, why would I care if you wear it out of the store?"

Paya bounced in her shoes a bit, and rattled off all of the things she was wearing. It was right after that when Zelda placed her clothes down for the owner to sift through, and after a little bit of small talk and a general price range, Zelda found the bag of rupees she was given quickly emptying to nothing. 

She handed the rupee bag over to Paya with an apologetic look.

"I plan to pay you back twofold, I swear it."

Paya looked at the bag, and took it with a distant, tired smile. 

“If you do, I won’t t-take it." She looked down sadly. "Zelda, I c-can’t. I have no reason to use it.”

Paya took the bag, and her hand scanned for a pocket in her new leather jacket. She had a miniature celebration when she managed to unzip one, and zipped it back with the bag well and secure. 

Zelda sighed, and vowed herself to repay her regardless.

“One day, when you least expect it, I’ll return your favor. If I don’t, I’ll go mad.” 

Paya smiled. If Zelda wasn’t mistaken, she saw the girl playfully roll her eyes. 

“I kid you not!” Zelda protested, “I will  _ absolutely  _ go mad! Debts unpaid are a burden of their own!” 

“Okay, o-okay." She said, smiling. "Just don’t give me m-money.” 

Zelda hummed an affirmative, watching the girl’s gaze become distant and avoidant again. Her heart sank, slightly, wishing the girl would meet her eye to eye again.

“I can come up with something.” 

The group walked away from Hateno, its nighttime dark blue wrapped the village in it like a blanket, and a large number of its people had long since fled the outside world for the safety of their warm beds.

“Sidon, I’m starving.” Link mumbled, her hand resting on the pumpkin on her stomach.

“I’m going to c-cook for grandmother once we arrive. I can make enough for a-all of us, okay?”

“Whaaat are you making?” Link asked curiously.

“I haven’t figured that out y-yet...Due to the autumn harvest we have more squash and pumpkin than usual. I can m-make creamy pumpkin and vegetable soup?"

"That'd be pretty cannibalistic of me." Link said, patting her tummy. "But I'm gonna die if I don't eat soon."

"Is that o-okay with you, Zelda? Prince Sidon?"

Sidon hummed in agreement.

"I, too, am more than willing to devour anything put in front of me." 

She had her eyes still set in the silvery Shiekah's general direction, and hummed an absentminded yes, halfway into an evening daydream about tomorrow's address.

"Z-Zelda?" 

Her mind popped back out from autopilot, and she shook her foggy-minded head.

"Yes. This is fine with me."

The two stood outside of the elder's abode, Sidon and Link had entered just a few seconds prior, but Paya had stopped right in front of the door, so Zelda followed suit.

"Will you b-be okay while I go to cook dinner?" Paya asked, her robes hugged caringly to her chest. "It's a fairly fast r-recipe. I do it in the restaurant up in Kakariko. At least, u-until Grandmother's shrine is rebuilt."

Zelda's brow furrowed. 

"You manage all that food all the way down those steps? Aren't you afraid of tripping?"

She glanced back in the direction of the steps, blocked by various buildings in the street that branched off of the great hall, and back to Zelda.

"I'm careful. I c-can show you where the bathhouse is while you wait, if you would like."

Zelda quickly felt the urge to protest, to say no in the hopes that Paya would join her, as the two had both bared the chilling cold of Hebra that day. It would be unfair not to indulge in that luxury with the person she endured such a discomforting experience with.

However...she'd run Paya around so much that day, and decided against refusing her offer. 

"Erm...that would be lovely, actually." 

Paya smiled and nodded, eyes affixed a bit to the left of Zelda.

"O-okay, let me inform grandmother and fetch you a towel, and we can g-go."

As she entered, Zelda's ears caught Impa's shocked reaction to her granddaughter. 

_"Who is this vixen?!"_ , she croaked, a giggle erupted from her much more befitting of a younger woman. " _Oh, look at you! You look like me when I was your age!"_

The door behind Paya materialized again, and Zelda could only make out excited mufflings. Her heart was set at ease, knowing Impa's reaction was kinder than she had expected. She had feared the elders of the village would react rather poorly to Paya's outfit of choice, and was prepared to defend her at the sight of anyone that so much as chanced her an incorrect look.

She leaned up against the wall. While her ears caught the muffled voices inside of Impas shrine, her eyes stared down the glowing blue hall that led to her own quarters. 

Her stomach flipped itself, spinning her intestines into knots. She was in no place to face her, to face those words left behind that were never truly meant for her. 

She would understand, though, right? Riju gave the diary to her for a reason, she said Urbosa would want her to have it. Urbosa would  _ want  _ this. 

And yet, part of Zelda feared it, she feared opening that book as if the last dregs of Urbosa's soul would float from the pages as soon as she read those words. It would finalize her death like a wax stamp sealing a letter, she  _ knew  _ it. She thought for a moment about never opening it, about holding onto it nightly, carrying it around daily and  _ pretending  _ she was never truly gone. 

She saw flashes of herself as an elderly woman, holding that ragged book in her arms and falling asleep alongside it. Her eyes threatened to tear up, but her mind was ripped from that horrible place as she heard Paya exiting Impa's room. She whipped around, and their eyes locked on one another.

She noticed how distraught Paya looked.

"Are you quite alright?" 

"Are you o-okay?" They asked in unison, and both stammered to appear a bit more presentable.

"I am f-fine, I just...h-h-here, you may need these if you want to b-bathe." She held out a stark white towel. Behind her, Zelda saw Mona in the room sifting through a stack of books in the corner, right before the door shut itself closed. It was quite easy to put two and two together. 

Zelda nodded, and took the fluffy white towel.

"I'm okay as well.” Zelda said, attempting to hide what was just previously floating through her mind. Why was it that a simple five minutes away from someone would tip her over the edge like that? “I'm just...thinking about tomorrow, I suppose."

Paya smiled sadly, and leaned her head over a bit. 

"Perhaps a hot bath w-would calm your nerves?" 

Zelda followed behind the girl who led her down the large main hallway, and agreed with a quiet hum. 

"It has s-showers, as well. I'm not sure h-how busy it is, as I've never used it, but I know there is one for women and one for m-men." 

_ She's never even so much as used it? _

"Well," Zelda began nervously, fighting against stopping herself from at least attempting to invite her. "Perhaps I should wait until we can both give it a visit?" 

Paya stopped in front of a rectangular building. It was tall, long, not too different from the surrounding buildings save for its size. She turned, a blush on her face confused Zelda like a snapped deku seed. What had she said? 

She wasn’t saying anything, she just stood there. Zelda spoke up.

"I'm sure it's lovely, and you might feel more comfortable if we go in together? I have no trouble waiting until after dinner." 

Paya swallowed, and scanned the girl in front of her for a split second. 

"I...you've w-waited a long time. Please, go enjoy yourself. I'll go get dinner ready, a-and I will let you know when it's done."

Zelda's heart sank. She felt foolish for asking, like she should have bitten her tongue and let the poor girl go on ahead and have a moment to herself.

“Of course." She said, nodding, standing straight and waving a hand. "Apologies. Go on ahead, I’ll be waiting.” 

Zelda wanted to stop her as she walked away silently to ask what was wrong, or if there was anything she could do to ease her mind. She came to a simple conclusion; that it was nothing she hadn’t already been informed of.

She pressed her palm against the square, her fingers tingled against the panel and the door opened in a flash. A miniature cloud of steam drifted from the place, a humid air enveloping her, inviting her inside, and she stepped forward. She heard the door hum shut behind her, and the echoes of sparse laughter and chatter began to bounce off the walls, the quiet streams of showers surrounded on all sides hitting the smoothed tiled ground and reverberating along. She’d never been to a bathhouse. In fact, the very idea of one in Castle Town was foolish, as everyone had their own baths, their own running water. 

This was the case for most of the four corners of Hyrule, save for one illusive spring used by Gerudo soldiers in the eastmostern part of the Gerudo desert. She previously thought these social bathhouses to be archaic cliffnotes in history, obsolete and awkward, but this was quite the opposite. Calming, strangely inviting. She could see the silhouettes of people sitting in the long, large bath, she could make out the grates in the ground letting the used water filter back into...somewhere. Wherever ancient Shiekah tech cleaned and recycled dirty water. 

Oddly enough, she trusted it, and she could only imagine how the ancient Shiekah looked in a place like this.

The steam enveloping everything lent her just enough privacy to feel comfortable letting herself undress in a corner. Stone elevations near the corners served as seats to enjoy the place as a sauna, tables jutting out of the walls directly in the corners were perfect for setting her clothing and towel. She tentatively slid her robes off, along with the rest of her garments, and could  _ feel  _ how hot her face had become from being so exposed to the elements, even with that shroud of mist offering flimsy protection. 

She placed her clothes under the table, and set her neatly folded towel upon it. Her brow furrowed as she felt something hard folded up in the fabric of the fluffy towel. Unwrapping it from its cotton confines just offered a moment more of confusion. 

It was coated in brown parchment. After peeling it apart carefully, she found something  waxy, imperfectly rectangular, the size of her hand. Upon looking closer, she saw flecks of pink, and noticed by its scent that it was a fresh bar of soap.

It smelled like Paya. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I really wanted to put this one out early, hope you guys can forgive me for posting two days after the last chapter.
> 
> This one didnt have a super good place to put an end, so its a lil long. That being said, these next few chapters have been really fun to write. I hope you like reading em as much as I enjoyed writing them
> 
> Also I thoroughly enjoyed writing Impa reacting to Paya getting a new set of clothes.  
> I love you all c:


	43. 18th night of the Red Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's gotten so awfully late, and the day she has spent preparing for the next's events is quickly dwindling behind her. How will she spend it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter issss a long one!

It was strange, noticing the smell and being brought back to their few cramped moments in that changing room. Physically, she tried to laugh it off, chortling and smirking slightly at the thing, silently thanking her for the gift, but her brain was processing a different emotion, one that couldn't be explained away with a simple chuckle. It was as if that scent had already firmly attached itself to her mind in such a short amount of time. It not only reminded her of that moment, but of Paya in general. Of her face, so illusive and hard to catch a glimpse of that she seemed mythological. It brought her back to that excited expression Paya made when she first saw herself in the Shiekah slate, a show of happiness so over the top and spectacular that it was like catching a glimpse of the legendary dragon Naydra itself.

She bit the inside of her cheek, staring blankly down at the bar in her hand.

As puzzling as it was, the grime on her skin and the burning smell of her own hair was driving her mad, and she turned her attention to the showers.

The walls had three shower heads on each side, those of which were spitting streams of water that erupted billows of steam as they fell upon the ground. She approached one, noting its lovely done, carefully carved face spitting the stream of water. 

She smiled, she was always drawn to little intricacies like this. Little details that honored or brought attention to deities in folklore. The faucet was angry, its mouth opened wide with fury, and its eyes glowed bright blue which pierced through the steam. She couldn’t recall what this angry thing was supposed to represent, but she tried to recreate its face, furrowing her brow angrily and gritting her teeth at the thing. 

Her small steps brought her closer to the water, its constant flow hitting her shoulder with furiously hot water was like being branded with a cattle prod. Even then, after acclimating to the pain, it did extremely well to thaw her cold skin.

She let it fall over her hair, she embraced it with her whole body. She opened her hand, the bar of soap becoming more fragrant, foaming up with large and small bubbles she was more than eager to coat her waiting skin with. 

It was just as she thought, her body had been heavy with dirt. The waters sloughed dead skin and previously dried grime from her body. It washed away a dark, disgusting substance from her hair that flowed into the grate next to her feet.

She tried to visualize these impurities falling from her as her negative thoughts, her fears and doubts about this time and place. It was difficult, though, as her body was covered in a century of...whatever that stuff was. It was thin and gelatinous as it fell off her body, perhaps some component of the healing waters she had been submerged in. 

Once it was all gone, and the lather of that bar of soap had cleaned every inch of her, her pores could breathe properly, her skin was soft again, and her hair had regained its proper sheen. 

She felt reborn, her body able to breathe from the suffocating grime that polluted her body. It was all thanks to that bar of soap in her palm. She placed it carefully back in its parchment, wrapping it away and rinsing her hands of the suds it left behind. 

What a beautiful scent. 

Zelda dipped her toe into the steaming pool, crystal clear and overflowing with scalding water. She was mostly submerged, sat crouched in a fetal position on the second most top tier of the water. She wasn't the only person enjoying this place, she could see the silhouettes of several women on the other side of the bath, and she could just make out their conversations. 

She relaxed a bit, let her head fall back onto the hard ground behind her and rest while her legs relaxed, and she sat properly with her butt at the edge of the first-most step of the pool. 

She listened carefully, eavesdropping unapologetically just like she used to when she couldn't pay attention to whatever book she was reading in her castle's library. 

"I'm just glad you and Lazara are okay. Who cares about lost goods?" 

"Me." The low voice said, darkly sarcastic, a tone undoubtedly Gerudo by how deep and intimidating it was. "I'd rather lose a limb than my livelihood." 

Zelda smiled to herself. 

"Jeez, girl, don't get so wrapped up in work. I thought we came here to chill, not get more stressed out." The Hylian figure slumped down in the water, arms crossed. 

"I lost half of my yellow dye with that backpack." She groaned, her voice aggravated and slow like a sleep deprived lion. "You know how much that is worth, yes?" 

"Nuh-uh. Not really. I know you’re a dye trader and all, but I don’t know anything about dye."

The gerudo woman sighed.

"...It is the second rarest dye in Hyrule. Some unlucky wolves who stole my bag are going to be yellowed in the face, perfect targets for a hunter's arrow. Serves them right."

The other girl, bearing a fairly neutral Hylian accent, cleared her throat and spoke her next words a bit more quietly. 

"So um...what else is going on tomorrow, besides the whole princess back from the dead thing?"

Zelda opened a bright green, curious eye, and looked in their direction.

"I’m certain that’s the only thing worth doing tomorrow. What else has brought the realm together ether in such a way for a century?”

She saw the shorter of the two shadowy figures sit up and put a hand to her chin. 

“Hrm, there was that Rito alcohol festival a decade ago. I saw a lot of people in that.” 

“Hmhm!” She chuckled, “Yeeess, the festival of weak, watered down booze. I vaguely remember stopping by and spiking that stuff with volt liquor. My husband could hardly handle it without making it stronger. He is cute that way.”

Zelda burst out with a loud chuckle, and held her hand quickly over her mouth. She was lucky that neither of them noticed her.

“That mead stuff knocks me on my butt. I was hardly able to find my tent last time I had some. I don't know how you can do it.”

“I suppose you’re cute in that way, too.” She chuckled, followed by a long, drawn out sigh. “I was told by Lady Riju’s village-side emissaries that Zelda herself visited our leader this morning, that’s how we got the message of her rally so quickly.”

Zelda pondered piping up, discussing it along with them, but her inhibitions to listen hung onto each of their words like her eyes would to a particularly exciting novel. 

“Do you plan to help?”

The Gerudo woman lifted her hand from the water, and scratched the bridge of her nose. 

“What, rebuild Hyrule Castle?”

The Hylian girl’s silhouette nodded. 

“I would be foolish not to. It is what Urbosa would have wanted.” The Gerudo vai grew quiet, before shaking her head. “That poor girl. The Hylian princess did not deserve such a fate, I fear for her future as a leader.” 

Zelda’s heart sank. Her neck muscles tensed and her attention snapped over in that direction, causing her to accidentally bump her skull against the hard ground she was resting her head on. 

“To have your life swept under from you like that. Hrm, I can’t imagine.”

Both her head and her heart were in sudden turmoil. 

“Aah, It’s not so bad, Shalliu. Ganon’s gone, she’s helping us pick up where the Calamity made us leave off. I think she’ll do a great job based on what my grandparents used to say about her! Shalliu, she’s gonna be a queen!” 

“Ugh,” The gerudo woman chuckled, “You’re too much of an optimist.”

“I have my moments.” 

Zelda's heart was torn in two directions. Was she meant to feel loved? Pitied? 

She sighed after a few more minutes in the shimmering pool, and pulled herself out in fear of being analyzed by random strangers again. 

She towled herself off, the process pulling even more dead skin from her legs and arms, little rolls of the stuff nearly had her gagging as they fell off her person. She felt as though she was coming apart, the towel being rubbed on her body kept taking off more and more of what had accumulated over all that time, until there was a little collection of dead skin on the ground. 

She wretched, and kicked it over into a nearby vent.

One by one, her new clothes came to fit her like a glove. From her undergarments, her new pants, boots, they all fit perfectly. Such perfect fits were not made complete until she donned that dark blue cloak, a familiar covering that she had grown to fall in love with over her time in Gerudo valley, in places where the sun and weather were harsher than normal. This one even seemed to be a little thicker than her last.

She walked through the door, dirty clothes in hand, the towel cradling the lightly used soap wrapped in its parchment. She hardly had time to stop before she nearly crashed into Paya.

The Shiekah girl locked eyes with her, holding with large mitts a gigantic ceramic pot.

She looked exhausted, and judging by her status as a purely village dwelling housekeeper, this was a very busy day for her, and it showed through the little bags under her eyes, and her silvery hair that threatened to burst from its binding.

She felt a pang of guilt, having run that poor girl ragged. 

“That looks awfully heavy.” Zelda said, concerned. 

“It’s not too bad,” She began, hefting it up with her hands as if it was slipping from her grasp. “Let’s g-go, though. My legs are the p-problem, not my arms.” 

She took the lead rather quickly, and Zelda followed understandingly from just to her right. 

“I have to thank you for the soap.” Zelda began, clutching the little bar that was hidden under the towel. “It smells wonderful. What are those little pink bits inside?” 

Paya resituated the big pot in her arms, and Zelda caught her smiling slightly. 

“Cherry blossom petals. I think they’re only for show, t-though. It is m-made by a Shiekah man who lives outside of Kakariko.” Zelda smirked, and a question escaped her lips.

“Does he visit the village often?”

Paya's sweaty brow furrowed in thought.

"N...no, but he drops off some of what he makes by the Shuteye in. They sell for h-him." 

Zelda felt a blush creep onto her cheeks. It wasn't so much the scent that drew her to like this soap. In fact, it was rather against what she generally liked. It was somewhat perfume-like, not natural enough.

But, it was a comforting smell, one that felt like Paya's kind words on the top of Rito village.

"It's just that...oh, it's awfully hard to find a soap I can stomach the smell of. This is pleasant. It's not too strong."

"O-oh, you can have some of mine, I-if you'd like. You can keep that bar I gave you." 

She grasped the bar, its parchment crinkled to her touch. She wanted to decline, but Paya interrupted her thought process. 

"You, u-um..." the Shiekah girl stammered, arriving in front of the door to Impa's shrine and growing quiet. The pot was resting against her body now, and her legs were trembling under its weight. "Thank you, f-for today. I enjoyed being your guard."

Zelda smiled warmly, a thumb rubbing against the bar of soap.

"It was an honor, Paya. You helped make my first day back a rather memorable one."

She caught her blushing cheeks, and her tiny smile. This smile was just as addictingly sweet to see as all of the others, and Zelda wished to herself that the day wouldn't have to end where it was seeming to.

"I don't m-mean to be a b-bother but, you said you had a p-plan, for Mona and I. So that I could have some spa-" 

Zelda watched as Paya met her for a moment of eye contact, and the anxious girl fell suddenly silent. 

"I've got it under control. Rest easy."

"O-okay." She said bashfully."C-could you um…could you g-get the door?" 

"Oh!" Zelda let out an embarrassingly nervous chuckle, and awkwardly sidestepped over to the panel. 

After the girl was let free to hurry the heavy pot into the room, Zelda took calculated steps behind her, stepping past the threshold and being greeted by all but the preoccupied Mona, who took a moment to look up from a number of papers hastily shoved into a leather and string binder.

"Woah, you look...familiar, Zelda." Link said. 

Zelda gave her old friend a quizzical look, before noticing Impa staring her down.

She looked...melancholy, yet excited. Perhaps nostalgic was the correct word, but with the elders wrinkled face, it was a bit difficult to read her expression. 

“Oooh, you are the second girl to surprise me today.” She said, excitedly. “I remember that outfit was your favorite!”

Zelda looked down bashfully and nodded, before letting out a guilty chuckle under her scrutiny. 

“It was among my favorites, yes.” 

Link sat up from leaning on Sidon’s side, and examined the standing girl more closely. 

“Zelda, I don’t remember much, but I  _ only _ remember you wearing something like that.” Impa giggled fondly, stifling her laughter with one hand, and she slapped her knee with another.

“Let her be, Link!” Impa merrily yelled. “She’s more than welcome to wear what feels most comfortable here, yes? Come, sit.” She said, the last of her giggles ending with a clearing of her throat. She gestured to a spot near the big table they all sat crowded around. It was odd, how much more homely this place seemed when Paya and Mona were on better terms. Zelda shook her head to decline. 

“I shouldn’t tonight.” She began matter-of-factly, getting Paya’s attention as she set a stack of bowls and cutlery on the table. “I need to prepare for tomorrow's speech. I actually have a request for you, Mona." 

"Huh?" She shot up as soon as her name was mentioned, her eyebrows raised and her papers put down at her lap. "What's up?"

"Well," she began, taking an interested glance at the pot of soup Paya had uncovered and began ladling out bowls of. "For someone so involved in the affairs of the Elder Council, I would like you to assist me in putting together my construction forms for tomorrow.”

The scholar looked puzzled for a moment, her pen stopped from being twirled slowly through her fingers in surprise. 

“Wow, that’s a pretty big honor, ahah.” She paused, looking at the scattered papers in the corner and glancing back to Zelda. “I’d have to get a few things first, but sure, I’d be more than happy to help.” 

“Wonderful.” She said simply, noting Paya’s small glance to her, a look of appreciation in her eyes. Zelda looked over at Prince Sidon and Link, and joined her two hands together at her middle, her arms cradling Paya’s robes. “I have a question for you two, as well. Would you like to be a part of the speech?”

Sidon looked at Link, as if she herself would give an answer, and shrugged. 

“Are you asking if we want you to mention us?” Link asked curiously.

Zelda shook her head, smiling pleasantly.

“I mean would you like a chance to speak, yourselves? You both did all of this,” She casually said. “You deserve more than a chance to speak your minds.” 

“I dont wanna talk in front of that many people.” Link blurted worriedly, shaking her head in a daydream of such a horrific situation. Sidon nodded to Paya as she placed a bowl in front of him on the table, a silent thank you, and looked back at Zelda graciously.

“I would, actually. There’s quite a few things I have to say.” 

Zelda politely nodded.

“I do want to mention your sister, so...it would be nice to hear your thoughts as well. I believe everyone deserves to be remembered, commemorated, so I don’t want to leave anyone out. You two probably won’t see me until tomorrow morning. Take all the time you need to formulate your thoughts, even if there isn’t much time. I apologize for this all being such short notice.”

Impa interjected after thanking her granddaughter for her own little bowl of soup. 

“We’ve experienced more sudden changes in our lives, dear. No need to apologize.” 

“It’s true,” Sidon began. “I’ve been thinking of what I’d like the realm to know for a century. I’ve had plenty of time.”

Zelda caught the girl in the back putting her things in order, donning a coat and placing her papers in a pocket on the inside, along with a pen in a front pocket.

Paya stepped around the spot she generally sat on, and stepped in front of Zelda with a bowl of her own. It was still hot, pureed and steaming with a large soup spoon sticking out from its side. 

“D...d-do you plan o-o-on eating i-i-...” 

“We’ll eat in my quarters.” Zelda said quietly with a wink, taking the bowl and cradling it with her hands. “Could you take your robes, by chance?”

“O-oh, s-sure.” The Shiekah girl stepped by Zelda’s side, and maneuvered the dirty robes from underneath her towel.

Zelda found herself captivated, the girl’s hands worked quickly folding the dirtied garments, and she felt a strange emptiness as she walked away from her, as if there was something she wanted to say before she parted but could barely scratch the surface of what that was.

There were so many points in the day where Zelda’s frayed tightrope busted from underneath her feet, where her frail sense of normalcy had been drained and Paya had been there to be, at the very least, a listening ear time and time again. 

Once Zelda had everything she needed, and goodbyes were said, she left the room alongside Mona with plans to brainstorm as much of tomorrow as she could before her exhaustion would cause the day ahead to come too soon.

“I take it your day among the elder council went as expected?” Zelda asked, beginning down the hall towards her own quarters. 

“Mm, can I speak honestly?” 

Zelda furrowed her brow, and looked eye to eye with the scholar she was walking with. She was deadly serious, so much so that it made Zelda bust out in laughter involuntarily.

“Wha- aha, what would make you think you couldn’t speak your mind around me in the first place?”

“Well, I mean...you’re the Queen of Hyrule, so...I dunno, I feel like-” 

“You feel like you need to give me special treatment, hm?” 

“No, it's not that.”

Zelda chuckled dryly, and nodded.

“I  _ am  _ a relic. I understand. Trust me, it feels as though it's only been one day and I’m already used to the stares I get.” 

The girl paused, scratching the side of her face, and blowing a sigh out of her gills. 

“You’re not a relic. You’re just kinda...important.”

Zelda frowned, and shrugged with one shoulder as she stopped in front of her home, her bowl in one hand, and her other on the blue door panel.

"Well I'll be frank with you in hopes that you feel comfortable enough to do the same. I find it difficult to grapple with my own importance, so things like this are hard for me to wrap my head around. It's rather turbulent, being thrown so quickly from one era and into the next."

She turned after placing her hot food on the lone stone table next to her bed, and looked into the tired girl's eyes. 

"I know what you mean," Mona said, placing her bowl alongside hers, and standing beside it. Zelda motioned the girl to sit next to her, and the scholar silently pulled out her papers, taking a seat on the hard bed.

"What I'm trying to say, Mona, is that I'm only a person. I'm...flawed." She stared at the little brown book, the tattered diary peeking from just under her pillow. "I wish to be treated just as normally as anyone else. So, if anything, do me that courtesy. Let's begin this by starting a casual conversation, hm? How has your day been?" 

Mona drew in a deep breath. "Okay. It's been... _ bad _ , honestly."

"Among the elders?" She asked, leaning forward with her hands on her knees. She yearned for some common ground with Mona, an inkling of what she was about, what she stood for. So far, she hadn't been able to read her very well.

"Well...I've been around them for three quarters of my life. There’s pretty much nothing they can say to put me in a weird mood anymore." She humorlessly chuckled to herself. "It's Paya...I've been thinking about Paya all day. Oh jeez, that doesn't make for much of a casual conversation, does it?"

Zelda bit the inside of her lip, turning her legs a bit toward Mona, placing her hands down to fidget at her lap, mimicking the scholar's movements.

Before she got a chance to offer so much as a word, Mona asked a question, her hands balled up in nervous fists.

"How has she been? She...she won't even look at me since it happened. D-...did I make her mad? Has she been angry at me?" 

Zelda took a moment to let Mona's sudden outburst of excitement quell. It was then that she noticed the growing tear under her right eye.

"No, absolutely not. I think her taking the day to be my guard, however, has given her a good opportunity to keep her mind away from it."

“I-...I don’t understand.” She said quietly, her voice quivering. “Ugh, how could I have been so blind?! Aha,” She ran her hand against her head fin, leaning back and zoning out in thought. “She kept opening up to me, telling me she’d never met anyone like me before. I felt the same way... _ feel  _ the same way, too. I just…” She exhaled, smiling frustratingly as she wiped a blue hand on her freckled face. “I can’t connect with her like that.”

Zelda resituated herself on the bed, furrowing her brow. 

"You sound as though you're upset at yourself." She asked cautiously. 

Mona visibly took a moment to let that notion sink in as she stared down at her own hands. 

"I guess I am. I messed up the only friendship I've ever had that wasn't strictly for helping me study. It's one thing to have colleagues, but...Paya helped me open up. Seeing her run away from me this morning...it broke my heart. She wants something more, but I just want what we already have." 

Zelda's heart coiled itself around in her chest.

"Given all that she's told me today, she wants the same thing. She just needs time to think." Zelda leaned forward, and spoke softly to complete her thought. "You can't think negatively of yourself just because you can't return that kind of affection."

"I've just never felt that way about other girls. I considered if I did with her, but I don't."

Zelda smiled. It was clear how much this girl meant to Mona, how many bottled emotions she was spilling out in front of her proved that. 

"That's...quite a thing to consider. She means so much to you that you even considered her as a partner? It sounds like she shook your perspectives quite a bit." 

Mona fervently nodded, sniffling quietly through her gills. 

"She does that. She's so sweet, and once you get her to open up, she just doesn't stop talking about how she sees things, and it's great, and..." The scholar trailed off, firmly pressing her hands against her face while silently crying. She pulled away from her palms suddenly, as if a thought had pierced her melancholy thoughts. "And oh my gosh, when I saw she got new clothes I wanted to scream and hug her and let her know how much of a big step that is for her."

"She said she hadn't worn anything other than those robes in her life." Zelda said, noting her guest's more relaxed shoulders, her less stressed out posture. 

"Yeah! How did Link get her to do that?"

Zelda was halfway to grabbing the bowl of soup on her desk when this question struck her like a bolt of lightning. 

"Erm, I actually goaded her into trying them on.”

Mona’s heavy breathing paused.

“You did?!” She exclaimed, her crying face in juxtaposition to her cheery sounding tone. “What did you tell her?! How did you do it?!” 

Zelda smiled, glancing down at the bowl in her lap. 

“I told her how often her grandmother used to bend rules like those as well. She wore what she pleased.” 

“Woah,  _ really?  _ That’s...pretty rebellious.” Mona said, smiling through her tears.

“You never knew Impa when she was younger.” Zelda put a finger to her chin, and tried to summarize her father’s old guard succinctly. “She was...peculiar. She chose her own weaponry, she fought by her own code, but she never made a mistake, so my father never felt the need to change how she went about protecting him.”

“That’s…that’s great.” Mona’s expression went from happy and optimistic, to distant once again. “I want to tell Paya how proud I am of her, but it sounds like she needs time alone. I never meant to hurt her so bad.” 

Zelda frowned, and outstretched her arm to Mona’s bowl, handing it to her along with a few words of encouragement. 

“She’s not gone forever. She's heartbroken, but she cares an awful lot about you. She just needs the time to heal.”

“You’re not mad at me, for talking back to you in the domain?” She asked, thanklessly taking the bowl from her hand. 

“Ah, I erm… I should be the one apologizing for that. I was short with you. To say I’ve had a stressful day is an understatement. I feel as though this day has gone on for a week.”

Mona nodded understandingly. 

“Well, I really appreciate the opportunity to work with you.”

Zelda smiled, holding the bowl in front of her face and preparing for a bite. 

“Well, let’s begin, shall we?” 

“Goodness, you write so quickly. You haven't taken a break in an hour, are you not in pain?” Zelda mumbled observantly. Their bowls of soup had been long cleaned out, and Mona was scribbling fervently one of many different forms that detailed volunteer work for Hyrule castle’s future construction.

It had been a while. The time had stretched into a few hours, the time spent discussing what needed to be addressed, what needed to be offered for volunteering, and what needed to be made clear about tomorrow’s rally. The hours were so late, it had to have been midnight at that point, and Zelda's eyes were drooping low and her spirits were listlessly drifting into the recesses of her mind. 

"I've convinced my body that the burning in my wrist is normal." The girl casually said, looking up from the sheaf of papers with a cheeky grin. 

"So tell me about yourself." Zelda began, holding back a yawn. If anything could ever wake her up, it was a proper conversation. "You're diligent, you're a Zora scholar. Is there any field you particularly find interest in?" 

Mona looked up for a quick glance, and continued scribbling. The tension had quickly dissipated between them over the passing time, things had begun feeling more friendly, and less formal.

"After getting out of the domain, just about everything looked worth studying. I used to think I wanted to study oceanography. That's what got me into wanting to be a scholar." 

Zelda quirked a brow, and nodded in agreement.

"An adventurous prospect. A dangerous one, at that." She remarked.

Mona glanced up again quickly, and chuckled to herself. 

"I liked imagining what was out there. I scoured every book for knowledge of the ocean when I was growing up. I wanted to create diving suits for freshwater Zora and explore the oceans with a team." She sighed nostalgically to herself. "When I got out, though, I got to learn about Ancient Shiekah Tech."

Zelda's curiosity piqued, and she leaned forward from her position, previously sitting with her back against the wall and her legs tucked up against her chest.

"Oho, you must be in paradise here." Zelda remarked optimistically. The girl stopped scribbling, and lifted up her head to nod with a serious look on her face. "So that's your field of study."

"It is." She said proudly. 

Zelda chuckled and nudged her foot in the girls direction.

"I know you must know, but I was the head of the Divine Beast's excavations. My father bestowed the title to me, but I took the lead from there." She looked down at her bed, on the stony mattress where the small engravings were so perfect one would think they were  _ just _ chiseled upon the stone. "It all started because an earthquake had dusted off the sand from the top of Vah Naboris. It was poking out of a dune." 

Mona had stopped writing as Zelda uncovered this tidbit of knowledge, she was looking up from her papers in awe, eyes locked on hers. 

" _ That's how you found all of this?!"  _

Zelda nodded politely.

"Mm, Gerudo soldiers believed it to be some ancient ruin, which isn't too uncommon for Gerudo Desert, but the more they uncovered, the more confused they became. The slate was found resting upon its main hub, and it detailed where the others laid dormant." 

"That's...so amazing! I thought it was because of those old Shiekah scrolls with all those vague details about the beasts! I thought you all uncovered it on a hunch!" 

Zelda shook her head.

"Those connections were made  _ after  _ the discovery of Naboris." Zelda beamed with pride as she spoke. "The slate had them marked out, we just had to take the initiative to excavate." She stalled herself, as her line of thought was straying too far into the story of their excavations, the dizzying fall she endured when her orders to uncover the guardians proved to be a foolish mistake as they laid waste to her city. It was too foolish to reflect on those thoughts, too volatile to touch them from any direction. "Well, I can go more into it in due time. So go on," She began, clearing her throat. "Tell us a bit of what  _ you've _ discovered. I'm intensely curious."

She hesitated, and after a realization, she reached in her notes tucked into her pocket for something. 

"You'll love this." She said excitedly, offering a page of graph paper with a map drawn on it, along with it was another bland parchment densely scribbled with scholarly jargon. It was decipherable, if a little messy.

It's confusing layout, however, caused her to take a few moments to figure out what it was detailing. 

"It's Impa Village." Zelda said breathlessly, her eyes scanning the handwriting to discover precise dimensions, notes, hypotheses all detailed to the letter. She looked up from the paper, Mona had a proud smirk as she pulled another paper from off her lap and began writing on another sheet. 

“Yep. Counted every step, every building. Even a little bit at the bottom of that one detailing the number of shrines.” 

“And you illustrated the whole village.”

“Mhm,” She hummed proudly, “Checked it four times, I'm pretty sure it's right. Wanna see something else cool?” Zelda was taken aback as Mona kicked her feet out from the bed, and walked over to the door. There was a brief moment of confusion where Zelda thought she was just going to leave. 

She was even more surprised, though, as the scholar placed her hand against the door panel, and to Zelda’s surprise, the lights running along the walls and ceiling of the room began to dim and brighten. 

“My word." Zelda managed to say, amazement and wonder not present in her voice since she witnessed the unearthing of the Divine Beasts now back with full force. 

"Come try. It's easier than it looks." Mona gestured her to the doorway, and Zelda pushed herself off from the bed, taking tentative steps toward the panel. Mona parted from the spot, and the girl gave her an unsure look to her guest as she pressed her hand against the wall. 

The door opened after a second of confusion.

“How did you brighten the room?” Zelda asked. 

“Think about it.” She said, visibly holding back her excitement. 

“What do you mean?” Zelda asked sternly, pressing against the panel harder, trying to see if there was some specific pressure she had to apply with her fingers. 

“I mean literally. Think about this room, how bright you want it. It listens to you.”

Zelda gave her a quizzical gaze, one untrusting, as if this were one big joke the scholar was playing on her. There was smugness, but genuinity to her guest’s tone, so it was hard to tell how sincere she was. 

The door materialized shut after a moment more, and Zelda thought to herself it wouldn't hurt to humor the waiting girl at the very least. 

She closed her eyes and visualized her room, setting it apart from Impa village in an inky black space in her mind, a bird’s eye view where she could see its intricacies from the outside in. She pictured this spot lit perfectly to read, lights fit to ease the eyes just enough, but not enough to distract herself from the words put to paper. Her mind reluctantly wandered to the piece of literature hiding under her pillow. In her mind's eye, in this imaginary vision, she could see the tattered edges peeking out and begging to be read.

What brightness would be perfect to study the words of her love's diary? Urbosa's expert hand at Hylian cursive was a spectacle, so slanted and free, thin lines with accents and flairs curling and swirling to the point of near illegibility, but oh, it was so wonderful to admire. It was an experience in and of itself to pick apart her personality through her writing.

Suddenly, kicking her out of her daze, the room followed suit along with her imagination. She glanced to Mona, and let out a confused, amazed chuckle.

“How...in the realm...did you come to this conclusion?” Zelda asked, holding her hand to her forehead as if tethering herself to reality. She’d seen the Divine Beasts, she had witnessed the terrible magic-like beams of the Guardians, but this discovery felt so  _ tactile,  _ something tangible for her to experiment with.

“It wasn’t me, someone in the bathhouses was leaning up against the wall with his hands while taking a shower, and just so happened to be thinking about his recent visit to the Tabanthan Hills. Word got around to me, I’ve been trying little things like this ever since.”

Zelda was still in awe, she placed her hand back on the panel, and visualized that room in her mind again. It was darkened, dim enough to find her way around, but perfect to sleep in. Perhaps a room illuminated  _ just  _ enough to see Urbosa's sleeping form by her side, enough to see the rising and falling of her breaths and her curves against the faintly brightened wall. 

Her quarters fell nearly black in an instant. The door's glossy, bright and electric sheen was removed and replaced with a dark purple, swirling and glittering tiny bits of light into the room.

Zelda felt a question bubble up inside her as she brightened the room again and shook the clingy visions of Urbosa from her mind.

“Do you at all do this studying officially? For the elder council?”

Mona’s smile fell away, and she shook her head.

“No, once scholars are let free, we’re free. The elders, erm...don’t like this much.” She gestured vaguely around the room, walking casually back to her spot on the bed. “I’d catch flak just for mentioning Shiekah tech.”

Zelda prepared for a follow-up question, just as she settled herself back down on her side. She watched the girl from her spot, nestled up against her own pillow. 

“Mm, well, I’d say you have a fairly keen eye for this. It’s hard for me to say as of now, as we’ve barely been acquainted, but I will need someone to help me continue study into ancient Shiekah artifacts.”

Mona’s eyes widened in the dim room, her hands gripped the papers she was holding. 

“Are you asking me-” 

Zelda held up a hand, and interrupted. 

“I’m not asking you yet, let me be clear.” She said sternly, “I’ve much too much to process as of now, aha. I’ve hired people who I’ve barely met to hire more people I’ve never even seen in my life, so I’m hesitant.” Zelda grabbed the map of Impa Village, and the sheet of intensely dense notes. “But I’m amazed at this. It would be a first, assigning a Zora to be the head of a division of my Chancellors, yet I’ve been welcoming ideas that my father would have turned his back against all day today.” 

Mona stammered for a moment. 

“I...I don’t know what to say.” 

Zelda gave a knowing smile. 

“Well, is it something I should continue considering?”

“Yes! Absolutely, yes!” Mona said quickly, her words almost interrupting the ending of Zelda’s sentence. “I’ve been planning out how I’d do it solo.”

“Pff, you’ll go mad studying alone.” She said, noting Mona’s guilty look. “Many minds are better than one for new discoveries.” 

“I’m a bit frazzled as is, to be honest.” 

Zelda frowned to herself, remembering the archaeology team she herself had assembled. Some of the best minds in Hyrule castle.

“Well if I can give you anything, it's that advice. You would have fit in perfectly among my archaeologists, that’s for certain.” 

“You’ll have to tell me about them sometime.” Mona said optimistically, getting a smirk from the girl. 

"Speaking of which, It’s getting rather late, isn’t it?”

Mona looked down at the stack of papers in her hand.

“I’ve been done with these forms for a while, we’ve just been talking, so I haven’t had a chance to mention it. Does this last one look okay?” Mona handed her the last piece of parchment she had written on. Just as the others she had created, this paper listed the application process to volunteer, all to aid Renno in drumming up a proper crew. 

"It all looks perfect." Zelda said, her sleepiness was masked by her calmed, contented attitude.

"Aah you think so?" Mona reflected, looking at the paper herself. "I think it's a lil sloppy."

"Nonsense, this will work wonders. I just have to finish my speech, which I should be more than capable of finishing up alone." 

Mona nodded, smiling understandingly. 

"I can stick around if you need another brain to help. Many minds, right?"

Zelda smiled.

"I appreciate that, but these words should be mine and mine alone. I have most of it ready, regardless."

Zelda walked with the blue scholar to her door, her hand holding the freshly created forms that would make the day ahead much, much smoother. 

“Thanks for talking to me about Paya.” Mona said, her spoon clattered around in the empty bowl she held. “I’m gonna give her some space. Probably study more in my own room for a little bit. If you need me at all, I’m two houses down from Impa’s hobble. The one with the triangle above the door.”

Zelda nodded.

“Could you, erm...tell her that for me? I don’t want her to think I’m just leaving her alone or anything. My trade instructing classes are still going on, but not for much longer, so she may think I’m just leaving or something.”

“I’ll make sure she knows.” Zelda said pleasantly, a tone that relaxed the girl in front of her and made her smile as she opened the door. “I look forward to seeing you at the rally, I assume you’ll be accompanying the elder council?”

"You assume right! If I can get the others, all of the scholars will be there, too. I'm gonna try and get us to sit in the same place in the Coliseum."

"Well, you'd best get your rest, then. It's been lovely." 

Mona passed by the opened door, waving a hand with a friendly smile. 

"It has been. Good night!" 

As the scholar left, and as silence descended upon the room again, Zelda was left with her thoughts for the first time that day. She pressed her hand to the door panel, dimming the room a bit, and unfastened her cloak, preparing to dress down.

She missed the comfort of her nightgowns, recalling her favorite, a silken one. It draped over her body like a cool, light purple cocoon.

She placed her gloves by her bedside table, and was content enough with falling asleep in a spare undershirt and underwear.  The company of others had served to shield her from being consumed by homesickness and grief, but she now had no choice but to lay herself in bed and let the anxiety seep through the cracks.  Zelda accepted this feeling reluctantly, like stepping into the steaming shower water in the bath house. She pulled the journal out with care from under her pillow and held it out in front of her as her body lay uncomfortably against the rocky bed, her right hip digging into the stone.

The front fastening of the diary beckoned for her to open it, it called with a small, bronze clasp oxidized a muddy blue. This book had been opened and closed for many, many years, marks and scratches characterized its cover like an abstract work of art telling a million stories.

"Hello, love." Zelda whispered, sorrow cracking her voice as she realized what she was talking to. She felt so pathetic to be doing what she was doing, but at the same time, felt as though she had no choice. "I said I'd be back here tonight, and now I'm here before you, I've not a thing to say. Call me speechless."

Zelda paused, her fingers gripping the old, cracked leather. She could hear her own whining with her labored breaths, and her tears began to well up and fall onto her only source of comfort below her head. Her thumb touched the buckle, she was tempted to open the memento.

"I'm sure you've heard, tomorrow is quite important. I'll be addressing everyone, the generations who have survived the Calamity. I'll start rebuilding my kingdom. Queendom? Monarchy?" She giggled sadly, holding her hand over her mouth. "Goodness, I'm set to be a monarch, aren't I? Little Princess Zelda. Aah, you'd be chastising me for being such a disaster the day before something so important, and I would agree with you. I'm a dry fire, I'm out of control, Urbosa." 

Her giggling stopped, and her whispered, excitable speech fell away to quiet sobs. Her tears blurred the book in front of her, and she forewent looking at it just to hold it close to her chest.

She was gentle as to not hurt the fragile book. 

"I just miss you so much, my lady. I can imagine you here, telling me how it's my era to rule, that there is some silver lining to this mess. Goodness, I've already agreed to let an art gallery into the new plans for Castle Town, could you believe that? Remember how often I mentioned my father's boring taste in art? How many portraits of fruit laid collecting dust in our halls?" She pulled back to look at the book sternly, as if Urbosa was actively encouraging her for being so independent. 

"Well it will be awfully hard without you." She stared at the book, waiting for some response, feeling foolish all the while. "Prince Sidon was lucky enough to speak with his sister before she departed to places unknown. I wish I could have been there when you did the same." 

A fire smouldered within her, one with embers blowing intensely toward the top of Spectacle Rock, in the bosom of the beast that took Urbosa away from her. She felt the dull pain of the memories tied to that place, one in particular that no doubtedly was detailed in the journal she held carefully in her hands.

She was overcome with this urge, and cringed as she heard the  _ click _ of the aged bronze lock undone with her finger. She was so nearly there, her thumb wedging itself between the tattered pages as her heart thrummed like a war drum in her chest. 

Suddenly, the sound of knocking interrupted the deafening beat of her own heart, and she jumped up, locking the journal and sitting at attention. What felt like some sorrowful, intimate moment was interrupted as Paya's voice was heard muffled from behind the wall.

"H-hello? Are you still awake?" 

She placed the journal on her lap, and laid the pillow over top it.

It had to have been one in the morning at that point, what in the realm was she doing up so late? She wiped her tears from her cheeks, and offered a sleepy welcome. 

"Yes, come in." 

The elder's granddaughter approached past the doorway and was illuminated from the artificial lights of the village from behind her. Her outfit still surprised her, the brown leather strapped shoes she wore sounded so different from the hollow wooden clacking of her sandals as she cautiously approached. 

"I just w-wanted to tell you that Link will be guarding you t-tomorrow morning, not m-me."

"Oh?" Zelda said, trying to hide her previous sorrow in her voice, her tears hidden behind her hands wiping underneath her eyes. "You won't be coming along?" 

"Grandmother decided she wanted to see your address halfway through dinner, so I’ll be carrying her there."

Zelda feigned a smile and cocked her head. 

“Carrying her?” 

“Eheh,” She began nervously, “Y-you know those slings some mothers use for newborn babies? The ones held together with straps around the back, and a s-spot for the baby in the front?” Paya paused from explaining, as she caught one of Zelda’s sniffles, and stepped forward after a moment’s hesitation. 

“You’re going to tote her around in one of those?” 

Paya frowned, avoiding the question and opting to ask one of her own. 

“Are you s-sure you’ll be okay to give your address tomorrow?” She asked worriedly, her hands fidgeted at her middle. "You’re c-crying.” 

Zelda’s poorly contained panicky breaths stopped short. It was dark, she could hardly see the tiny gleam of the Shiekah girl’s eyes, her little frown. She had no idea how to respond, as every single answer she could give in that moment was in the negative.

In this pause, Paya moved back toward the door panel, and pressed a hand against it, causing the lights to turn on to Zelda’s surprise.

“No, do not!” Zelda blurted frustratingly. In the brightened light, she was certain she looked an absolute mess. Her hair felt as though it was going in every frazzled direction, dry and split at the ends. Her eye bags were most likely so sunken and wrinkled, puffy as they held her bloodshot eyes. 

The silvery girl startled, blushing and muttering quick apologies as she turned quickly to dim the room. 

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to m-make it so bright!” 

Zelda sat silently, her face heated up and her limbs tingled with embarrassment. 

“If I want the room brightened, I’ll ask y…” She stopped herself dead, her aggravated words were choked back just as quickly as she began dishing them out. The girl was in the corner, flinching as if Zelda was about to strike her with a flurry of hateful words. 

“I-I just...I c-...” She stammered apologetically. Paya's fear, her terrified expression was much too much to handle; it caused Zelda’s heart to break. 

“I apologize.” Zelda said quietly. 

“N-no, I shouldn’t have done it, it was m-me,”

“No it was not, champion.” She said loudly, startling the girl to a rigid stance again. “You have been nothing but kind. You stood beside me and lent me your ear all day.”

“Well I s-still want to listen.” She blurted, another move that caught the girl off of her guard. "You've d-done it for me all day, too."

Zelda shifted where she sat. She could feel the book on her lap, impatiently waiting to be read. 

"It...it's much too late, I'm afraid. You have done a great deal for me today as well, Paya, I believe you deserve some time to yourself." She watched the girl's shoulders slump sadly in the dark. "I need to be woken up early." 

Paya paused for a moment, before sighing to herself.

"I um...I t-told Link to wait outside for you, but I'm sure she'll wake you up. I'll see you at the rally, then." Paya turned heel after giving an awkward 'good night', and began to walk away, but Zelda stopped her with a calm tone. 

"Before you go, I need to tell you something. Mona wishes to give you space. She said she'll be eating and spending time in her quarters for a time, but she wanted to let you know she isn't planning to leave." She gave Paya a moment to let the words sink in. The waiting door that Paya was just about to walk out of re-materialized, and Zelda heard her breathe a sigh of relief. "She doesn't want to stop knowing you, Paya. She made that very clear." 

There was another pause, a longer one than before. Zelda thought she was stuck, stuttering her thoughts to a complete standstill like she had a few times that day, but her voice rang out in the quietness of her room, clear and nervous.

"C...c-can I hug you?" She asked worriedly, as if the very request was blasphemy.

Zelda's eyes widened. Out of everything she expected to hear, the nervous girl's request for a hug wasn't one of them. It caught her so off guard that her planned polite denial was lost to a very quick 'yes'. 

The girl walked forward quickly, and from her sitting position Zelda let out an 'eep' of shock as she was embraced by Paya, her shaking arms covered in her new jacket wrapped around her neck. Zelda's face grew hot, she was covered in the smell of the Hateno store, a scent that offended her nostrils with overly artificial perfumes. Instead of feeling the urge to push her away, however, Zelda was overcome with a strange urge, an urge to scream and cry, to sob into the girl's shoulder for hours on end.

It was so painfully new to her, her senses were so overloaded with this feeling that she wanted to grab onto this girl to keep her there, to lock her hands around her arms to let herself process it further. 

This embrace ended abruptly, however, and Paya pulled apart from her swiftly, like the hug was professional; a business transaction. It was almost humorous, if the feeling the embrace gave her didn't leave her so confused. 

"O-okay, I'll see you at noon tomorrow, okay?" She said quickly. 

Zelda was sitting there, the Shiekah girl's words were barely registered properly, as her mind was going in a million different directions at once. 

Did she say goodbye? She must have, as Paya was gone, and Zelda was still sitting there, hands grasping at her pillow in her lap like she was trying to hold onto that feeling. 

Suddenly, she scooted backward, she brought the pillow along with her as her back pressed against the cold wall. She pulled the pillow close, putting it between her legs, and hugging it to her as she began to cry.

She was just embraced, and with it, a floodgate waiting was nearly released, and she so desperately wished she could have let it go. She pushed her face against the pillow, her tears soaking the fabric and wetting the front of her face. 

She was exhausted. So, so exhausted of being thrown back and forth between comfort and sudden despair. Perhaps it was best not to grab the book at her feet after her crying had subsided, but against her better judgement, she pulled it close, and unlocked its clasp. Zelda winced, her teary eyes reluctantly viewing the first page.

_ 18th night of the Red Moon _

_ It has been blisteringly hot on this, near evening of the eighteenth. The peak of Gerudo summer always challenges our most extroverted folk. Even the merchants have their fans, and it feels as though the desert mosquitos and darners will burst into flame in midair.  _

_ It felt like yesterday about this time in the year when I was a young ruler-to-be, taking up the mantle from Umbasa who voluntarily stepped down to pass the rule onto myself upon the Queen of Hyrule's passing. That night was similarly humid when I set my eyes upon the Princess of Hyrule for the first time in my life. A pale babe, emerald-eyed, swaddled and sweating in a basket held by her wetnurse. I was short enough to meet her face to face.  _

_ The queens funeral services were held in each corner, as each had respects they wished to pay. Bospheramous was irritable, short with our priestesses who wanted to endow him and his company with blessings and rose water. _

_ They were all quiet throughout the ceremony, my officiation as ruler came after that night, once they departed.  _

_ I write this because I set my eyes upon the same vai for the first time again today. In my ruling, I have been reclusive as my predecessors have been known for, but meeting with the Hylian princess was something out of a dream.  _

_ She has grown much, I see none of the same child I saw when she had arrived that hot summer night. She was calm, quiet and calculated, much too much for someone of her age, for a Hylian, that is.  _

_ She took a sudden and intense interest in what she saw. She asked about our jewellery, our sculptures, our stables, even our farms a ways north of our village. I swear that I've never spoken that much to an outsider in years. Her ear caught onto Vilta performing with her flute near our main fountain, the girl walked away from me like she was charmed by the music. My eyes were locked on her as she stood watching and listening to the performance, a traditional Gerudo song. She was content, she was smiling, captivated. _

_ There isn't much of a better word to describe the whole experience than otherworldly. I await her return, perhaps she and I can discuss bolstering our trade routes some. If she is any more competent than her father, she may inspire a new side of me, yet.  _

_ You have me perplexed, Hylian vai.  _

"You perplexed me, too." She whispered shakily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna write more chapters from Urbosa's diary, I liked writing from her perspective. ALSO this chapter was like 9,000 words woo c: 
> 
> I love you all, thank you for reading my story<3


	44. It's a new era, Papaya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waiting in line as the villagers of Kakariko funnel in groups through the transportation room, Paya has a day of looking after her grandmother and watching the new queen of Hyrule address her people!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! this chapter starts in Zelda's perspective and shifts to Paya's, in case I didn't make that super clear!

Zelda was torn between joy and regret. She shut the book, its first page was old and threatening to fall apart from the binding. She locked the journal, and held the precious thing close to her once again as she laid back down uncomfortably on the bed. 

That was the day she fell in love with their culture, and at the very least grew quickly fond of their ruler. She remembered how short Urbosa was with her that first day, as if she had forgotten how to talk to anyone but the most quiet women in her army. 

Zelda whispered sadly.

"It was difficult to coax out your talkative side, but we got there. Those two years were nothing but perfect. I just wish I could tell you that, my lady."

She pressed her forehead against the diary, a myriad of words left unspoken she wished to spill for the Gerudo Lady swarmed in her conscience. Out of the storm of words, this chaos of 'I love yous' and 'I'm sorrys' was one that brought all others to a standstill.

She needed to visit Vah Naboris. 

She jolted from sleep, the night was short and restless, falling away with a dry-eyed blink. A string of drool was left between her rising bottom lip and the pillow she was laying her head on. 

She saw it, the first thing to wake up to in the morning was that book, and the typhoon of emotions and memories it carried with it.

It needed to be pushed aside for now, held back like the urge to vomit. Even her snap decision right before she fell asleep did she have to shove to the back of her mind, visions of entering Vah Naboris had to be locked away as she had matters to attend to. She hastily pulled her clothes onto her person, sliding on her coat and cloak and preparing to meet Link outside. 

She probably looked awful, yet again. 

Perhaps if she was lucky, she would look a bit less tired than she did the previous morning.

She pressed her hand against the panel next to her door, and visualized her room to be brighter, one hand fishing for the Shiekah slate in her jacket pocket to view herself.

As she did this, however, she had the passing thought of wanting to view her own reflection. She recalled her tall, sparkling looking glass back in her tower's quarters, opulent with its golden rim, and lined with similarly golden vines and leaves creating a wreath around its oval shape. Suddenly, a deep clicking began near her bedside table, the wall right above it slid off into a different compartment, and revealed a gleaming mirror which was pushed to the forefront. 

Before she could realize what was happening, more mechanisms began moving and shaping a few different objects. It was so bizarre, so otherworldly to see such small parts coalesce and come apart like intricate clockwork from the walls.

What was shaping up was a rather rudimentary vanity. A mirror lit on all sides by a strip of white light sat an inch length out from the wall shaped much like her knight's shields, her table had been pulled down just a touch, and in front of it, a chair stood right in front, waiting to be sat in. 

She approached it, wide eyed and cautious. Was that why this room seemed so...empty? Were there other things here, waiting in the walls to be brought forth with nothing but a thought? 

Just what other feats was this place capable of? 

She sat down, leaning forward on her table and viewing her reflection properly for the first time. The slate's camera was one thing, but it was nothing compared to this view. 

Again, she looked how she felt. Albeit, a bit cleaner than before. Her familiar set of clothes were certainly a breath of fresh air, and the showers had done quite a bit. Truly, she was beginning to look more like herself. It was mainly just her hair that was bothering her. It was so split at the ends it resembled an old, beaten straw broom that had seen its days smacked against the floors of a horses stable as soon as it got past her shoulders. 

Perhaps she could do what her handmaidens often did for her, she could attempt to tame it with the hairstyle her father said made her look like an ‘old milkmaid’.

Her hands attempted the hairstyle as best they could, over and under motions created two braids for the express purpose of tying them behind her head, to create a sort of headband.

The intended result, however, was catastrophic. 

It wasn't that she was unable to tie a simple braid, she was used to doing it for years upon years, it was her hair that was acting so unruly. Every time she tried to braid them at all they would frizz outward and puff up. She let go in defeat, huffing a frustrated sigh.

It needed to be tamed, cut down like dense jungle brush.

Come to think of it, she wouldn't mind it being cut at shoulder length. She wondered who knew how to cut hair in Kakariko. 

Perhaps Paya could. 

She wondered where that girl was, perhaps already on her way to the Coliseum. Zelda shook her head from her daze and quickly gathered her beige parchment which had the gist of her speech on it. 

It was hastily written, the best she could do in those few hours last night, but everything she wanted to say was indeed on that paper. Anything else would be from the heart, the same way her father would give speeches.

She exited the room, looking to the right and seeing the slender form of her old guardian. She looked like she’d been up for a while, her hair was done up in a ponytail that let a few stray locks hang on either side of her face, and she wore the black, long sleeved shirt she had taken from Zelda those many years ago. She noticed the tea she held in both hands, the curiously Gerudo-esque crossbow on her back, and the glimmering blade on her hip that took her breath away as soon as she saw it. 

"Ah!" She stammered, grabbing Links confused attention, marvelling at the sword affixed by its glimmering scabbard.

"Good morning!" She said, flipping a lock of hair out of her face and smiling, taking a moment to notice Zelda's transfixion on the Blade of the Eight. She looked down at it, and darted her eyes back to the girl. "Oh, my sword?"

"That's not just any sword, Link." She said, surprised, Link’s three simple words hit her like a punch to the gut. 

She really didn't remember a thing. Link accompanied the princess to Gerudo town on so many occasions that it was a wonder how her arms and face weren't permanently tanned from all the time they would spend there.

"I got it as a gift from taming Vah Naboris." 

Zelda hummed, frowning.

"Yes, I’m aware that Lady Riju gifted it to you. I almost didn't want to believe it myself, it has been so well kept.” 

Link frowned, and looked down at the sword on her hip, as if to attempt to remember.

“I know how to take care of it.” She said, a slight pain in her voice.

Zelda looked up from the sword, and gave an indifferent look to her friend’s pouty face.

She cleared her throat, and kept herself from going further into how particular she used to prefer things kept. Pre-calamity Link understood this, as she’d gone through Zelda’s lectures about where she expected everything to be just in case they were ever meddled with. From the items in her room, to the arranging of her luggage during carriage rides, even to the specific order she preferred her pens to be in on her desk when she prepared to write letters. This Link, however, was brutally unaware of how meticulous she was. If Zelda was in charge of this weapon, she would see to it it would be taken care of weekly, properly shined and kept of any smudges, displayed proudly in the sturdiest case she could have built. 

“Well,” She began with a breathy tone, “I assume it's still rather early. Do you know where everyone has gone off to?”

Link finished a sip of her tea, nodding as she swallowed. 

“We have a few hours. Paya and Lady Impa left about an hour ago, Renno was still getting ready last time I was up there, but most of Kakariko has started heading to the rally, too." 

Zelda's eyes widened for a split second. 

"Almost the whole of Kakariko? That's quite a turnout." 

"Zora domain has been talking about it all night. Everyone there is going, too. The transportation rooms were packed."

She pondered how full the arena would be once she arrived, and it gave her a small spark of excitement and nervousness.

Zelda collected her nerves with a brisk sigh and a smile. 

"Let's not keep them waiting, then."

Link nodded, following her lead as she began their trek to the Coliseum.

"Are you hungry at all?" Link asked. 

"I cannot eat before public speaking, it makes me nauseous. I'll eat a large dinner" She said, trying to hold back the tone that showed her frustration in Link not remembering that. 

Zelda bit her lip, frustrated at herself for even considering scolding her for being unaware. 

"Thirsty?" Link asked. 

Zelda wanted to say yes, but was cut short by the sloshing of a Shiekah drinking gourd being offered to her.

She took it by the rim, giving Link a gracious glance and a nod. 

"Thank you, compeer." 

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“Paya. Paya, it’s just past dawn.” The old man said, his loud voice shaking the girl from her sleep. Dorian generally didn’t have to wake her, but she normally never slept past the sunrise, either. 

She opened her eyes, and lifted herself from the futon she had lazily thrown in her room she had chosen in Impa village. The uncomfortable stone bed her room originally came with proved much too stiff for her body, and in her sleepy daze the night before, she snagged her recently dried futon that had fallen in the ruins of Impa’s old shrine. The elder stood before her in the doorway, towering above her with a pleasant smile. 

“Your grandmother urges you to wake up, she wishes to leave as soon as possible for the rally. She’s excited. We all are.” 

Paya wiped the sleep from her eyes, her silvery hair draped and messy over her face. 

She felt a surge of recognition in her chest, it was the morning of the rally, the moment everyone in Kakariko was talking about the day prior.

“T-thank you, Dorian. I-I’m sorry I didn’t wake up earlier.”

“What did I tell you about apologizing to me? You are okay. Lady Impa awaits in her abode. I ate with her about an hour ago, we both could not sleep very much last night.”

Paya nodded.

“I-I’ll see you at the rally.” She said sleepily. As he exited, she pulled her arms from her thick blankets and stretched.

Getting ready with her new set of clothes was like changing her routine for the first time in her life, and as she slid her jacket on she couldn’t help but mentally evaluate the day ahead. She hadn’t gone to the Coliseum in ages, the last time being her last training session she had alongside her grandmother about five years ago.

Leaving her temporary home was equally a shift in routine, as nearly everyone from Kakariko occupied the transportation room on the close end of Impa Village. She could hear them, men and women, children, every single person was bustling in that area, forming a line of voices that stretched all across the eastern section.

Everyone sounded excited, optimistic and giddy in a way Paya had never heard any of Kakariko sounding before. It raised her spirits to hear their cautious expectations for the newly arrived queen's address.

In her short walk to fetch her grandmother, she passed Mona's home, averting her gaze nervously from the building as she remembered what took place there the day before. It created a nauseating feeling as she recalled it. Paya hadn't slept much that night, her mind was over-active with thoughts of the one who had done nothing but stay by her side throughout their time together. There was this electricity between them, Paya was  _ sure  _ of it. Every small glance and exchange had a flurry of those butterflies, and as she gazed into Mona's eyes she was certain she felt it, too. She couldn't take that strange feeling anymore, it was becoming something much more than she could handle, it needed to be channeled into a confession. After opening the scholar's door, Paya got on her knees at Mona's bedside and grabbed her hands from her papers she was scribbling on, confessing everything in a string of nervous, stuttered words. 

Her stomach churned as she remembered the three words that crushed her spirit. Her confused, sorrowful tone that showed just how far her feelings were from the girl’s made it sting like a salted wound. 

" _ Paya, I'm…sorry. _ "

She cringed, recalling darting out of the room and staying holed up in her own bedroom, watching from behind pouring tears and her energy-veiled door for Mona to leave for the day to the Zora Domain.

And yet, in that horrible memory, she remembered the rest of that day. It was an uphill climb, but somehow the recently resurrected princess had calmed her some, a feat she didn't assume was possible. 

She still hurt, but she knew that it wouldn’t stay that way forever. 

"Good morning grandmother." Paya said contentedly as she passed through the shrine's door, a phrase she has said more times than she could count throughout her life. The elder beamed from her small perch, her little hands balled into fists. 

"Love!" She croaked, an exuberant smile dressed across her face. "I'm so excited for today, ooh I could hardly sleep a wink last night!"

“Dorian told me.” Paya said happily, her hands down at her hips. “A-are you-” 

“Yes, I'm ready, dear.” She interrupted, eyeing the sling near the doorway that they had discussed last night.

“Of course.” 

She hooked the old leather baby sling to her body. The idea was strange to her at first, but the more she got it on, the more she realized it would be an absolutely perfect fit for her grandmother.

“I used to carry you in this thing, you know. I had no idea what I was doing.” Paya smirked as she picked up Impa, and sat her down in the sling. 

“W-wow.” Paya remarked. “I-I’m surprised you fit so well.” 

“Wow is right," Impa remarked. "We’re a team! Let's get going, Papaya, we need to get a good spot to stand!" She beamed an excited smile as she fervently tapped her granddaughter’s arm.

Paya startled as the door de-materialized suddenly. She half expected to see Mona, but her flipping heart was set at ease as Link entered through, fully dressed with her sword on her hip, and her crossbow tied to her back.

"Woah," the Hylian began, looking between the elder and her granddaughter. "Hi Lady Impa." 

"Hello dear! You're escorting our woman of the hour, yes?"

"Mhm. Are you guys not staying very long?" 

Paya shook her head no.

"I t-think grandmother wants to get there before it gets too cluttered."

Link nodded, shifting her weight a bit on her feet and cocking her head.

"It's cluttered in the transport rooms as is. There are pretty long queue times, so you might want to get going."

"Queue t-times?" Paya asked.

"Long lines. It can't move too many people at a time, it can't move people into a room where other people are queued up. I was supposed to be here a lot earlier." 

Impa grumbled worriedly.

"Goodness, it sounds like a nightmare. But, I suppose it’s a lot better than making a full day’s trek. We haven’t ever had such a large gathering in such short notice. These things usually took months to prepare.”

Paya shivered at the idea of navigating through a sea of people just to find a proper place to stand.

“W-where is Prince Sidon?” 

"He's helping the elder council and the masons get situated in the Coliseum. It's a bit of a walk to get there. The line was packed, too. Who knows where he is at this point."

“I haven’t seen this many of my people in one place in a very long time.” Impa mumbled dumbly, the surprisingly long line of Shiekah people was broken up every now and then by the occasional clump of Gerudo traders and Goron people. The old woman practically shook in excitement at the thought of the events ahead. 

In all of Paya’s years with her grandmother, she’d never seen her so excited, so happy for something. All of her musings of the life she used to lead would end in quiet, sorrowful reflection, all of the stories she could remember generally began with optimism and adoration, and ended with a dull tone, a defeated one that always left her in a depressed stupor. Now, just as the lands of Hyrule were unshackled by Ganon’s ire, it was as if her dreams were rekindled in kind. It was quite a shift for Paya as well, the stack of people lining up in front and behind her made her feel intensely claustrophobic. If it wasn’t for her grandmother attached at her front, she’d be much more distressed.

She spoke up quietly to break the building tension in her mind. 

“A-are you comfortable?” She said, catching her grandmother’s surprisingly sensitive ears over all of the commotion.

“Yes, of course.” She said happily. This couldn’t have been completely true, as Impa was so arthritic in her old age, it was difficult for her to walk more than a few feet without pain wracking her body to a halt. Perhaps the excitement was putting all of that discomfort to the back of her mind. “Ah,” She said reflectively, “I’m so excited that you get to see this day, Paya. I’ve been dreaming about it all my life.” Paya craned her head forward to listen to her grandmother speak, but her eye caught a large, lumbering form lining up behind her, casting a shadow at her front. The gigantic, barrel-chested Renno startled her at first, his usual dirty robes were pristine, and he stood tall like a proud wall, clean shaven with his white hair slick and tied up on his head. Hana was attached at his shoulders, sitting like a squirrel would on a tall tree. Her hands were wrapped in fresh bandages, and she was gripping onto a wooden cone almost too large for her to get a proper hold on.

They, just like everyone else around, looked to be a mixture of optimistic and nervous, speaking in hushed tones about how prepared they were for the events that were to unfold. 

"H-hi there, Renno."

The man paused from glancing up at his daughter, and looked down at Paya. 

"Aha, wow, hi Paya! Miss Impa!" 

Hana cleared her throat, aimed the megaphone in front of her face, and spoke loudly. 

_ "Hello Paya! Good morning! Nice jacket!"  _

Renno blindly swiped up until he grabbed the cone his daughter was speaking with.

"Loud! Loud, Hana! I told you not to use that thing!" 

"You didn't let me test it this morning!" She complained, pouting as he swiped the thing from her hands.

"Well now we know it works! Now I'm holding it!" 

"W-what is it for?" Paya asked, smiling at the mischievous Hana as she stuck her tongue out at her father.

"It's a megaphone!' Renno said, his jolly, warm tone was only slightly aggravated by the girl trying to grab it back for herself. "It's a gift for Princess Zelda." 

_ "Queen Zelda!"  _ Hana obnoxiously corrected him, bopping him on the head lightly with her palm. 

"Yeah." He said apologetically. "I don't think we're the only one with gifts, though. I saw some Gerudo ladies talking about their friends bringing over jewellery and fresh bread from Gerudo Town. She's probably gonna have a lot by the end of the day."

Paya squeezed the weathered straps laying across her shoulders as she thought about the recently resurrected girl's kindness, how she nearly insisted Paya be open and honest as if any other option was unacceptable.

Paya's face flushed red, the outfit she was currently wearing would have still been sitting on the mannequin if it wasn't for Zelda. If she deserved anything, it was something that would bring her joy.

"And Hana and I figured she'd like to be heard during her speech!" Renno must have caught on to the elder's expression of excitement, as he urged her on with a question. "So what can we expect, Lady Impa?" 

"What do you mean, dear?" She asked, half in a euphoric daydream of the day's events. 

"Do you have any fond memories?"

Paya smiled as her grandmother made a little 'oh!' sound and clapped her hands together.

"Of course I do!" 

As her grandmother regaled them with a tale of her youth, the line moved forward inch by inch. Paya was absolutely absorbed in this particular story, one about a large, opulent gathering of the four corners into the same Coliseum they were set to be audiences in. One similarly filled with the smell of food, with the added bonus of a three act play. Zelda had also addressed the masses in this story, her very first speech in front of a wide audience. She was perplexed in this tale, as she'd never heard it pass her grandmother's lips. She was so entranced that she had hardly noticed they were standing on the elevator to take them up to a shrine just north of the Coliseum.

"Oh my, would you look at this." Impa said as they reached the top, giddiness bubbling up in her elderly voice. The road was packed with people, full with races from the four corners all converging near the Coliseum's time-withered entrance. From the east, flocks of Rito people were landing one by one, and from the southeast, groups of Gerudo women strode in on carriages pulled by gigantic, muscular horses, their black coats shining. The air smelled like food, like someone had brought a feast with them.

What people weren't coming in by foot were coming from the one shrine directly north of the Coliseum. The place was surrounded by a half-moon shaped moat, a small bridge constructed of wood that has stood the test of time connected the road to its tall entrance.

Paya's memories recalled the greyed stone of the old fighting grounds, how the bricks were highlighted with faint touches of moss and underbrush. This now loud and bustling place still reminded her of training as a young girl. She remembered the summer heat, the loud cracking of her practice sword as she sparred with her aging grandmother and falling to her knees in the dirt of the old Coliseum as she was bested time and time again. She had the faint sense that she'd never see it so desolate again, which brought a peaceful feeling among the chaotic chattering she was bombarded with. 

“I haven’t been around here since my hunting days with your grandma, Hana.” Renno said, getting his daughter to perk up, her eyes scanning the crowds of people converging and surrounding the general area in front of the monolithic building. The Gerudo caravans were harnessing their horses to posts they hammered in the soil on the rightmost side of the entrance, before unloading carts of what Paya assumed to be gifts. 

“I haven’t been here since ever!” She said simply. “It’s huge!” 

“We don’t get out much, do we kiddo?” The lumbering man said as he turned to Paya, and held a hand to his chin. “I think Hana and I are going to stick around near the entrance. I want to be able to catch Zelda and give her this before she starts.” 

“T-that’s fine.” Paya said.

The open entrance was a yawning maw arching skyward, its broken face at the very top left it imperfect, and she stepped over the rubble as she passed through the threshold. The old walkways up the first, second, and third levels of the vertical length of the building were marred with time, rocky railings and floors weathered by a century of storms were quickly being filled from all angles. 

She passed loads of people from all walks of life, going from the first level, to the second, before Impa motioned for her to stop from her seat affixed to Paya’s torso. 

“This. It’s perfect here, don’t you think?” She said joyously, tugging on her leather sleeve. Hyrule field was apparent through the fallen front of the Coliseum from this vantage point, a sight befit for a painting as the sun loomed overhead from the cylindrical amphitheatre, and the turning trees cupped the view of the ruined castle in the distance.

Paya knew of her grandmother's poor vision, but it was apparent that even she was emotionally caught in the view.

“That story I told, about the play.” Impa began, her eyes affixed on the shape of the ruined castle in the distance. “That speech she gave was an absolute disaster,” She chuckled fondly, and spoke again. “It was like she was delivering it backwards, she was so nervous.” 

“H-how old was she?” Paya said, smiling.

“She must have been nine or ten. She talked about her views for Hyrules future, how much she wanted to see it grow as she aged. At that point, she wasn’t much of a decision maker, she was Hyrule’s cute, loveable face. If anything, that disaster of a speech only served to make the Realm fall that much more for her.”

Paya held back a contagious laugh as she leaned a hand against the stone rafter of the amphitheatre, minding not to touch the moss and dirt that caked it. 

Her eye caught the exuberantly red skin of the Zora prince on the other side of the Coliseum, standing among the first level, crouched down among a group of elders and what she assumed to be the masons he spoke of. She had a difficult time not searching for Mona as she scanned the line of Zora all standing in a half circle around the first level. Thankfully, her attention was pulled by her grandmother once again.

“She got a lot better as time went on. People began to take her more seriously once she stepped her foot in the affairs of her common folk. You never did tell me, how did you like being her guard yesterday? Do you think, maybe, that you would do it again?” 

Paya furrowed her brow, and thought for a moment. Would she do it again? What an odd question.

“I-I,I’m not sure. There’s no reason for me to, but I enjoyed it.” 

“Of course you did, she got you to try on a whole new set of clothes.” 

Paya cracked a smile.

“Y-yes, but only because she told me you u-used to protect King Hyrule while wearing Hylian clothes.” 

Impa wore not a hint of guilt in the belly laugh she gave after Paya said this. 

“She ratted me out! That little tattle-tale!” She coughed, and began chuckling again. “I always disliked Shiekah robes back then. My mother never even wore them. I wear them with pride now, and I can’t express to you how important they are to our people, but I can’t stop you from doing what you wish.”

She remembered the look on Zelda’s face as Paya reacted to her new set of clothes in the reflection of the Shiekah slate. She looked triumphant, wiped free of grief in a solitary moment of pure joy.

In truth, the expression Zelda wore was just as contributory to Paya’s excitement as her new clothes were. There was something special about seeing that burst of happiness sprouting like a flower after being there to witness her sorrow-filled perusal of the four corners.

It was then that she realized how willing she would be to do it all over again, to follow her around for another day or so, just to catch another glimpse of her joy. 

“I t-think I would." She said. "I would accompany her again.” 

Her grandmother fell silent, and if Paya wasn’t mistaken, she noticed her sigh reflectively as she looked toward Hyrule castle. 

“Link doesn’t want to protect her anymore, love.”

“W-what?” Paya exclaimed in a suppressed whisper-yell. 

“She won’t. Darling, she didn’t want to before the Calamity happened.” 

The elder’s granddaughter gripped the stone support rail, an intense demand for answers burned in her. 

“H-how did she become her bodyguard, then?” 

Impa paused, it took her a moment to speak up again among the chattering crowd. 

“What I tell you cannot leave this place.” She said, a dire tone carrying her voice, and her voice lowered to such a volume that it was barely audible among the cacophony of excited chatter. “You mustn’t tell Zelda, and you mustn’t tell Link, either.” 

Paya’s mouth grew dry, her grandmother’s voice was mournful once again, just as it was when she would recall stories of her life with bitter memories attached to them. 

“O-okay.” 

“Link is an excellent sword, that’s for certain. She climbed the ranks among many much older than her because she is endowed with the spirit of Farore, known to many as the triforce of courage. The reason she was placed in that specific spot, however, was to be Zelda’s suitor.” 

Paya’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Impa let out a stern warning. 

“It is like I said, do not tell a soul."

“H-how do you know this?” 

Impa once again grew quiet, as if she was regretting her decision to confess such sensitive information.

“I was Rhoam’s right hand. I knew every move he made, Papaya. She never had a guard in her early years, as she never left her father’s side. But, as soon as she started making trips on her lonesome, he paired her up with not only a capable fighter, but one her age, one his chancellors theorized was branded by the Triforce. He put her there and kept his nose out of his daughter's business in hopes that something would...happen.” She drew a deep breath, looking back out at the ruins of Hyrule Castle. “Link was not happy, I knew this every time we sparred, every time I so much as glanced at her from across the dining halls. But when she came through my door with her new identity, and her new clothes, her arm around the Zora prince? It clicked together like a puzzle box. She belongs with herself, and, well...she belongs with him.” 

Paya’s nostrils flared, dumbly unaware of what she was trying to get at.

“W-why tell me this, grandmother?” 

The elder craned her neck up, giving the girl her full attention through a side-eyed glance. 

“She needs to be protected.” She said, her voice slow and calculated. Paya knew this slow drawl, this serious speech she was so used to in her early childhood. "This world is one much less kind than it was a century ago, and now that she has her hands on Hyrule’s reins again, she’s vulnerable, and It's only a matter of time before Zelda requests Link to join her once again."

“B-but, g-grandmother…"

"I'm insisting you do this, Papaya. If Zelda will not have you, that is okay, but...it is the duty of the Shiekah people, of  _ our  _ lineage to protect the Royal family. The time will come. You need to offer your services when the opportunity presents itself. It pains me to do so, but I insist." 

Paya was at a crossroads, hesitating her protesting before speaking up.

"But I need t-to l-look after you." 

"The entirety of Kakariko can look after me, love." Her voice and face were stern, threatening Paya's gentle nerves as she swam in the sea of loud voices and strong scents of the ampitheatre. 

Ever since she can remember, Paya lent her grandmother her aid, who's quick reverence among the Shiekah people led her to become the village elder from the time Paya was around five.

Paya also assumed she'd live a relatively quiet life, one tending to her grandmother until she drew her final breath and taking the mantle as village elder as she grew older. It was never implied by Impa that she lead this life, but it was something Paya always assumed would happen, an unspoken rule that she would be surrounded by the same routine, the same faces as she would grow up. This life, however, proved to be the last intention Impa would have for her, as her serious expression and dire tone made her intentions for her granddaughter painfully clear.

"It's a new era, Papaya. You will take part in it. You were meant to be much more than my handmaid. You are extraordinary, and I love you."

“I-I love you, too.” She said worriedly, her urge to argue died down with a slurry of questions and anxious thoughts surrounding her mind. It was so hard to express this discomfort, as taking care of this woman was all she’s ever known.

Time passed at a syrupy pace, and Paya lost herself in the sounds and smells of the arena, counting the chunks of fallen debris among the grounds, watching the people from all four corners of Hyrule chatter amongst themselves like she was bearing witness to an especially complex play. She saw from the second floor bannister a small marbled chair being toted in by four Gerudo guards, the lazily sitting form of Lady Riju waved to the Gerudo who were greeting her.

She, just as many others, was dressed to the occasion, touting opulent jewellery brilliant enough to gleam from such a far distance away. 

She felt her grandmother’s request weigh on the forefront of her mind. It was absolute; there was no way she could possibly deny it, as she herself fought for the Royal family and wished for Paya to do the same. 

But, was it something she was willing to do? To just up and place a foothold into a new land? To abandon Kakariko for a castle that hasn’t even been built yet?

Paya was shaken as a horn sounded, it's thunderous boom tested the rickety acoustics of the arena, causing the crowd to fall silent. A Gerudo woman near the entrance held the thing, a hollowed out bull horn sounded as if it was a call to war. 

Who it was meant to signify walked into the arena taking off the hood of her robe with her guard standing by her side. What followed was a cacophony of cheering as the queen-to-be waved her hand to greet the rows of people.

Paya, just as the crowd around her, was enamoured by the sight of the girl. The sheer weight she carried with every step. She hardly noticed Prince Sidon slowly shifting through the audience and down the first floor, and noticed that Link caught on to his presence as well, beaming a smile and waving as he walked down to the entrance and up to his beloved as Zelda began. 

It was hard not to see her in a different light in this setting, the girl who's presence was so strong and gravitationally powerful that it pulled the entirety of the realm to witness her, like an angel of Hylia basking in the sun that beamed overhead. She stood like she assumed such an important role with gusto, a civilized deity who has come to bless the tens of thousands who have travelled to see her.

Impa's request made it all the more disconcerting. Just the thought of protecting this girl, this aforementioned messenger of Hylia brought Paya's nerves to a grating frenzy. 

She held a piece of parchment in one hand, and the megaphone in the other, and she waited for the mess of cheering to subside before she finally gave the first words of her speech.

"Let me begin with my recognition of the leaders and citizens who have endured the post-Calamity world, and let me speak for those who cannot speak for themselves any longer." Her tone was forthright, blunt. "My father led Hyrule into untold prosperity the realm hadn’t seen in its countless years of standing. The predecessors of the four corners helped shape every edge into the best version of itself. Those who have fallen, the countless Hylian knights, Zora soldiers, Rito and Gerudo, the Shiekah, you are not forgotten, it is apparent by the swords that stick from the ground outside of this very building. You are remembered, and Hylia holds a world into the next for you. It is this realm, though, the people who stand and watch today who have kept it intact.” She motioned to the sitting Gerudo Lady, who perked up from her seat. “Lady Riju, the elder Kaneli, the Goron boss Bludo, The Zora prince Sidon, And...” She pointed her hand directly toward Paya, who’s heart immediately flipped in her chest. She felt a burning on her cheeks as the entirety of the realm locked eyes on her. “Lady Impa, and her granddaughter, Paya. These, along with the folk who have kept the roads alive and well, have ensured Hyrule’s future. Now before I go further into what I intend to do, I wish for you to listen to one of the two who freed this land in the first place. Everyone, please welcome the Zora prince.”

Sidon was met with uproarious applause, and as he took the megaphone, he basked in the whistling and fanfare that accompanied him like a natural. 

"Ganon is no more!" He yelled sharply, unsuppressed joy filled his tone. He beamed a gigantic smile as the crowd fell into an uproar of cheers. "I speak not for myself today, but for the heart of Hyrule itself! We are not dead! All of your leaders, all of those independent enough to walk their own paths, you are strong!" He stilled himself for another pause, and let the cheering crowd die down as he held the megaphone down his side, and was surprised as Link came over to tackle him by his side with a hug. 

This show of affection was met with a sharp toothed smile, and he quickly returned it as he fell to one knee, putting one arm around Link before speaking loudly again.

"We fight for our homes!" He pulled the girl close by her side, and kissed the side of her head. "We fight for who we love, and who we have lost! The wounds that Ganon has opened have been sutured! It's our time now to heal! For Hyrule to heal!"

What must have been tens of thousands of people in the rafters, piling so densely that the grounds themselves held people too packed to fit fell once again into cheers.

Moments later, after handing the megaphone back over to Zelda, she cleared her throat into the thing and began after the arena fell relatively silent. 

"I own no more ties to my blood throughout Hyrule, there are no more dukes, no more barons, there are no more members of parliament that make my tie wind further ahead and behind me. Thus, I urge Hyrule into a new age, a royal family bound by my blood, and a parliament bound by popular vote. I wish my hand was not required for such a portion of this action, but I will be assigning this first parliament, a group I see fit to assist me in establishing my foothold, our foothold in this Realm once again, and re-elections will cycle once every three years. Such decisions will dictate who handles our laws, our trade, our military at large. It is, to be deathly honest, unknowable, but it is crucial. 

This has everything, and nothing, to do with the four corners of Hyrule. Let me be perfectly clear to all who rule, you will not be attempted to be dethroned, you will not own any less power than you did a week prior." 

"However," She began sternly, "my attempts to establish a similar environment to the one set by my father, set by Urbosa and King Dorephan a century prior  _ will _ affect you. Your towns and villages will be moving through Hyrule field again, regardless of these new modes of instant transportation. Responsibility grows. This precedent was a standard of living I and Hyrule as a whole  _ has _ to meet. Traders will have homes, and will have stable work. You will have opportunities to settle down in towns built over the ruins that scatter Hyrule field. Those with families, roving traders, explorers, you all know the fear that Ganon’s minions have instilled upon this place. The Zora domain, City of the Goron people, these places were shut off from the rest of the realm by forces that are now no longer looming over our heads. To those who once feared the roads, who feared a lawless wasteland, you may now breathe. 

Everyone, it is time to step out from our tents and build our homes. Let us start with the right foot. The head of Kakariko’s construction, Renno, will likewise be the head of Hyrule castle’s restoration. This is not only a statement, but an offer. An offer to assist. Any and all who wish to join the restoration project, please speak with this man," She pointed at Renno, who waved a hand awkwardly, the entirety of the Realm's eyes locked on him. "He will provide you with an applicant form. The process is overseen by myself and a choice few from the elder Zora council. From hereafter, I proclaim myself Monarch of the Royal Hylian line. I am the Queen of Hyrule.” 

Paya's arms grew goosebumps, her eyes and ears ignored the sensory overload of the explosion of cheering. Their incoherent yells fell synchronized into a chant of ‘long live the queen’ over and over, the sound bellowing like a beacon of sound from the coliseum. Perhaps Paya was the only one to notice the sadness in her voice as she proclaimed her title. Zelda was so loved, so absurdly accepted without any denial of the crowd around her, and yet, Paya couldn't shake the images of her crying in her mind. 

How could she be feeling at that very moment? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey its been a fat minute. I haven't been keeping track, maybe it's been a month? but I hope you like this chapter! I've recently been getting some pretty significant ideas for it and have a whole notebook of stuff in mind for the fic. I really hope you still enjoy reading, and I love you all C:


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